A JOURNAL OF

GERMAN-AMERICAN HISTORY Cover: Deutsches Haus (ca. 1925) Collection of the Maryland Historical Society

VOLUME XLI 1990

A JOURNAL OF GERMAN-AMERICAN HISTORY PUBLISHED BY THE SOCIETY FOR THE HISTORY OF THE GERMANS IN MARYLAND

RANDALL DONALDSON KLAUS WUST CO-EDITORS

BALTIMORE, MARYLAND COPYRIGHT 1990 THE SOCIETY FOR THE HISTORY OF THE GERMANS IN MARYLAND P.O. Box 22585 BALTIMORE, MARYLAND 21203 ISSN: 0148-7787

PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA TABLE OF CONTENTS

PAGE

EDITORIAL STATEMENT ...... 4 MEMBERS AND OFFICERS ...... 5

OFFICERS OF THE SOCIETY, 1886-1990 ...... 7

INVITATION ...... 9

FROM THE EDITOR ...... 11

A SALUTE TO THE GERMAN-AMERICAN BUSINESS ENTERPRISES OF BALTIMORE

By WILLIAM H. McCLAIN ...... 13

MAJOR GENERAL THE BARON JOHANNES DE KALB: A FORGOTTEN MARYLAND PATRIOT

By GERARD WM.WITTSTADT, SR ...... 17 THE GERMANTOWN PROTEST AND AFRO-GERMAN RELATIONS IN PENNSYLVANIA AND

MARYLAND BEFORE THE CIVIL WAR By LEROYT. HOPKINS ...... 23

THE ROLE OF GERMAN-AMERICAN SOCIAL GROUPS IN THE ASSIMILATION OF GERMAN IMMIGRANTS By RANDALL DONALDSON ...... 33 FROM CAROLINA TO CONNECTICUT: GERMANS AND Swiss IN SEARCH OF

GOLD AND SILVER, 1704-1740 By KLAUS WUST ...... 43

THE GEORGIA SALZBURGERS AND SLAVERY By GEORGE F.JONES ...... 55

IN MEMORIAM ...... 64

NOTES ON CONTRIBUTORS ...... 67

[ 3 ] EDITORIAL BOARD

RANDALL P. DONALDSON LEROYT. HOPKINS G. KENNETH HORVATH GEORGE FENWICK JONES PETERF.JORDON LIESELOTTE E. KURTH WILLIAM H. MCCLAIN ARMIN MRUCK FREDERICKS. WEISER DANIEL F. WHITEFORD ROSEMARY WITTSTADT KLAUS WUST CARRIE-MAY KURRELMEYER ZINTL Editorial Policy: The Society for the History of the Germans in Maryland is dedicated to the preservation and dissemination of materials pertaining to the history of the Germans in North America, particularly the state of Maryland and the mid-Atlantic region. The Report provides a forum for the discussion of scholarly issues which are central to the Society's purpose and invites articles which deal with any aspect of the history and culture of the German element in North America, from materials which support genealogical research (the Society itself does not undertake such research) to studies which examine the sociological, historical, or literary aspects of the German-American experience. Articles which focus on the Germans in Maryland are especially welcome. Manuscripts are accepted at any time and should be directed to the editor at the address listed below. All submissions should be made in triplicate and should contain no information which identifies the author or would otherwise prevent an anonymous review of the manuscript by members of the editorial board. Authors should include a single separate sheet identifying themselves and providing other relevant information. All submis- sions will be read by at least two members of the editorial board. Authors will normally receive notice of the outcome of the review process within six weeks of receipt. Accepted articles will be published in the next issue, and authors can expect to see their work in print within a year of the original submission. Manuscripts should be in English and follow the form suggested by the Modern Language Association. Non-English quotations should be accompanied by an English translation.

Manuscripts should be directed to:

Randall Donaldson, Editor The Report Foreign Languages and Literatures, MH 519 4501 N. Charles Street Baltimore, MD 21210

[4] MEMBERS AND OFFICERS OF THE SOCIETY FOR THE HISTORY OF THE GERMANS IN MARYLAND 1987-1990

CHARLES T. ALBERT NICHOLAS B. FESSENDEN ALBERT M. AMMANN JOHN FLAHERTY ELLYAPITZ RITA FLAHERTY JOHN J. APPEL.JR. GEORGE F. FLENTJE, JR. NANCY B. AREHART SYLKE BIEBER FLINTON G. MITCHELL AUSTIN ALLEN E. FORD JANE K. AWALT M. IRENE FORD ROBERT F. AWALT ELFRIEDE G. FOWLER BETTY BANDEL Louis A. FRANZ C. RICHARD BEAM HENRY C. FREIMUTH GEORGEJ. BEICHL WILLY W. FRÜH ISABEL M. BEICHL DOROTHY GALWAY LIESELOTTE H. BIEBER JAMES A. GEDE RUDOLPH W. BIRNBACH HANNA GELDRICH-LEFFMAN GARY BLOUGH GERMAN GENEALOGICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA MARIANNE BOUVIER ROBERT J. GERSTUNG JEFFREY WAYNE BRAUN K. PETER GLAUBER WILLIAM T. S. BRICKER KENNETH RALPH GLAUBER BRIAN W. BROOKE MARILYN R. GLAUBER D. WILLIAM BROOKE CHARLES R. GNEITING DANDRIDGE BROOKE RICHARD N. GOETZINGER ISOLDE BROOKE JOSEF GOHRING CHARLES E. BROOKS FRANZ X. GROLL LLOYD R. BRÜCK BETTY J. GRUEL JANICE M. CARPER HARRY D. GRUEL WILLIAM F. CASEY ESTHER M. HAM ROBERT E. CAZDEN MARVIN W. HAM JANE ADAMS CLARKE M. A. HARPOLD SHEILA D. COLE ILSE MOELLER HARROP DWIGHT COLLMUS CHARLOTTE R. HARTMEYER SERENE Q. COLLMUS CHARLOTTE F. HASSLINGER JEROME FRANCIS CONNELL, SR. HARRY E. HASSLINGER ALBERTJ. CRAEMER ROBERT S. HAUSSMANN DOLORES C. DAY JOHN CHARLES HEISLER LISELOTTE H. DAVIS MAUREEN M. HELINSKI C. LYNN DEWITT BRIGITTE HENNING EMILY NORDHOFF DICICCO LEONARD F. HESSE ROBERT A. DICICCO WILLIAM M. HESSON.JR. CLAYTON A. DIETRICH ORMOND D. HIGGINS MARGARET A. DIETRICH DAVID P. HIVELY JOHNJ. DIPPEL.JR. PAUL F. HLUBB.JR. MARTIN J. DIPPEL.JR. LEROY T. HOPKINS DIANA L. DODSON JOHN H. HORST RANDALL P. DONALDSON G. KENNETH HORVATH MARTIN W. DONNER MICHAEL R. HUBER GEORGE W. DRESS, JR. ROBERT HUBER ELKE FURTHMANN DURDEN THOMAS B. INSLEY, SR. WILLIAM DURDEN GEORGE FENWICK JONES CLEMENT D. ERHARDT, JR. PETER F.JORDAN LILA M. ERHARDT JOHN F. FADER II DONALD G. KAMMERER JOSEPH M. FELLNER OTTO H. KAPPUS BRIGITTE V. FESSENDEN ELIZABETH D. KINSLEY

[ 5 ] REUBEN CLARK KINSLEY FRANCIS W. PRAMSCHUFER BOWEN P. WEISHEIT HARRY W. KLASMEIER DAVID J. PRELLER.JR. RALPH L. WELLER, JR. FREDERICK P. KLAUS DAVID J. PRELLER, SR. EDWIN O. WENCK SUE ANN NORDHOFF KLAUS MORGAN H. PRITCHETT JOHN R. WESKE GERDA STEINHAUER HELEN L. RANGEL WILLIAM N. WHITE KOETTER GUENTER E. REINSBERG DANIEL F. WHITEFORD NICHOLAS J. KOHLERMAN WALTER A. REITER, JR. MARGARET WIEGAND WERNER A. KOHLMEYER WILLIAM E RENNER VERNON H. WIESAND KATHRYN E. KOLB RAGNA RENNICK ROBERT LEE WILHELM STANLEY DENMEAD KOLB JOHN A. ROBINSON RENATE WILSON HERTHA KROTKOFF HENRY T. ROEHL CARL H. WINKLER LIESELOTTE E. KURTH NORMA ROEHL GEORGE JOHN WITTSTADT, JR. MICHAEL J. KURTZ LEWIS B. ROHRBACH GERARD WM. WITTSTADT LANCASTER Co. HISTORICAL MAY ROSWELL ROSEMARY H. WITTSTADT SOCIETY LIBRARY LEVERING V. RUHL, JR. GLENN L. WITTSTADT, JR. NORMAN W. LAUENSTEIN C. A. DUTCH RUPPERSBERGER III GLENN L. WITTSTADT, SR. PETER H. LEFFMAN ROBERT H. RUPPRECHT KLAUS WITTSTADT LAUREL LEICHNER RAYMOND WITTSTADT GEORGE F. SANDER, JR. E. A. LEROY HERBERT E. WITZ BEATRICE SARLOS RICHARD LINDENBERG NELSON J. WOLFSHEIMER WILLIAM DONALD SCHAEFER ROBERTJ. LITTLE KLAUS WUST PAUL SCHAFER E. ELIZABETH LITZINGER MARIE A. SCHEFFEL JOHN E. YOUNG, SR. RAYMOND A. LOHR VERNON L. SCHEFFEL JOSEPH ZEBLEY WALTER G. LOHR.JR. REGINA M. SCHEYDT WALTER G. LOHR, SR. CARRIE-MAY KURRELMEYER ZINTL AUSTIN F. SCHILDWACHTER PAUL A. LUDTKE VOLKER K. SCHMEISSNER ROY MAACK Louis E. SCHMIDT C. PAUL MAENNER WILLIAM D. SCHMIDT, SR. PAUL R. MAENNER C. WILLIAM SCHNEIDEREITH.JR. IRVINJ. MARLEY ROSE C. SCHOENEMANN ARTHUR R. MASON WILLIAM M. SCHOENEMANN L. BRENT MATHEWS WILLIAM T. SCHOLTHOLT WILLIAM H. MCCLAIN ALBERT M. SCHÖNE MRS. ROMEO MCCLARRY M. EVE SCHULTHEISS ELFRIEDE M. METZLER ELSBETH M. SEEWALD MARTIN W. MILLER,JR. DOROTHEA SELETZKY CHARLOTTE M. MONAGHAN FREDERICK J. SINGLEY.JR. RUTH B. MONTAGUE A. RUSSELL SLAGLE JOHN E. MOTZ ROBERT LEE SLINGLUFF JOHN W. MOYER ELEANOR SNYDER ARMIN MRUCK ALFRED SOHNIUS GARY E. MYER CHARLES F. STEIN, III NAOMI D. NAPER JEAN R. STEIN LARRY M. NEFF GORDON STICK, IV CIJURE V. M. STIEFF ANDREW GERECHT KATHERINE S. SYMINGTON KIMBEL OELKE DOROTHY E. OTTER LOWELL S. THOMPSON HERBERT G. OTTER, SR. DONALD E. TILLMANN H. J. SIEGFRIED OTTO DON HEINRICH TOLZMANN GEORGE E. TROUT LAWRENCE J. PAZOVREK BERNARD A. PENNER H. EDWARD VINCENT GERD H. PETRICH WILLIAM A. VOGEL JOHN W. PFEIFER ANNA K. VON SCHWERDTNER PHILIP E. PFEIFFER.JR. ANNA K. VON ZEMENSZKY ROBIN PIERCE-BAKER GEORGE H. VON PARIS, SR. THEODOREJ. POTTHASTJR. CHARLES L. WAECHTER THEODORE J. POTTHAST, SR. RANDALL WARD JAMES W. POULTNEY FREDERICK S. WEISER HERMINE E. PRAHL

[ 6 ] OFFICERS HON. GERARD WM. WITTSTADT ...... President DR. HANNA GELDRICH-LEFFMAN...... First Vice-President MR. CLEMENT D. ERHARDT.JR ...... Second Vice-President Miss ANNA K. von SCHWERDTNER...... Secretary DR. RANDALL P. DONALDSON ...... Treasurer

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE DR. RANDALL DONALDSON DR. HANNA GELDRICH-LEFFMAN DR. G. KENNETH HORVATH DR. GEORGE FENWICKJONES DR. PETER JORDAN MR GARY E. MYER REV. H. J. SIEGFRIED OTTO MR. THEODORE POTTHAST, JR MR CHARLES F. STEIN, HI REV. FREDERICKS. WEISER HON. GERARD WM. WITTSTADT MR. KLAUS WUST DR. CARRIE-MAY KURRELMEYER ZINTL

OFFICERS OF THE SOCIETY FOR THE HISTORY OF THE GERMANS IN MARYLAND, 1886-1986 PRESIDENTS REV. JOHN GOTTLIEB MORRIS ...... 1886-1895 PROF. E. O. von SCHWERDTNER ...... 1958-1962 REV. BENJAMIN SADTLER ...... 1896-1900 PROF. A. J. PRAHL ...... 1962-1967 Louis P. HENNIGHAUSEN ...... 1901-1906 PROF. HAROLD JANTZ ...... 1967-1975 DR. ERNESTJ. BECKER ...... 1907-1911 A. RUSSELLSLAGLE ...... 1975-1983 Louis P. HENNIGHAUSEN ...... 1912-1917 VERNON WIESAND ...... 1983-1987 GEORGE PRECHTEL ...... 1918-1929 PROF. HANNA GELDRICH-LEFFMAN ...... 1987- THOMAS FOLEY HISKY ...... 1930-1936 PROF. WILLIAM KURRELMEYER ...... 1937-1951 ROBERT LEE SLINGLUFF, Jr...... 1951-1956 PROF. A. E. ZUCKER ...... 1956-1962 SECOND VICE-PRESIDENTS OTTO H. FRANKE ...... 1962-1967 CHARLES WEBER, JR ...... 1886-1887 PROF. A. J. PRAHL ...... 1967-1970 PHILIP AUGUST ALBRECHT ...... 1888-1889 CHARLES F. STEIN.JR ...... 1971-1975 PROF. OTTO FUCHS ...... 1889-1890 PROF. HAROLD JANTZ ...... 1975-1978 REV. HENRY SCHEIB ...... 1891-1895 PROF. CARRIE-MAY KURRELMEYER ZINTL. 1978-1987 Louis P. HENNIGHAUSEN ...... 1896-1897 VERNON WIESAND ...... 1987-1988 EDWARD F. LEYH ...... 1897-1901 HON. GERARD WM. WITTSTADT ...... 1988- PROF. OTTO FUCHS ...... 1902-1905 PROF. HENRY WOOD ...... 1906-1907

REV. FR. PH. HENNIGHAUSEN ...... 1907-1911 GEORGE PRECHTEL ...... 1912-1917 FIRST VICE-PRESIDENTS LOUIS C. SCHNEIDEREITH ...... 1918-1922 C. OTTO SCHOENRICH ...... 1923-1929 Louis P. HENNIGHAUSEN ...... 1886-1895 THEODORE G. KRUG ...... 1930-1937 REV. HENRYSCHEIB ...... 1896-1897 LEWIS KURTZ ...... 1938-1951 Louis P. HENNIGHAUSEN ...... 1897-1900 PROF ARNO SCHIROKAUER 1951-1954 GEORGE W. GAIL ...... 1901-1905 . C...... PROF. OTTO FUCHS ...... 1906-1907 REV. FRITZ O. EVERS ...... 1955-1959 PROF. HENRY WOOD ...... 1907-1918 REV. EDWARD F. ENGELBERT ...... 1959-1965 GEORGE PRECHTEL ...... 1912-1917 PROF. HAROLD JANTZ ...... 1965-1967 DR. ERNESTJ. BECKER ...... 1911-1917 CHARLES F. STEIN.JR...... 1967-1971 HENRY G. HILKEN ...... 1918-1937 A. RUSSELL SLAGLE ...... 1971-1975 J. GEORGE MOHLENRICH ...... 1938-1940 VERNON H. WIESAND ...... 1976-1983 PROF. A. E. ZUCKER ...... 1940-1956 PROF. WILLIAM H. MCCLAIN ...... 1983-1987 DR. ERNEST G. SCHWIEBERT ...... 1956-1958 CLEMENT D. ERHARDT, JR ...... 1987-

[ 7 ]

TREASURERS EDWARD NIEMANN ...... 1886-1888 J. GEORGE MOHLHENRICH ...... 1926-1938 ROBERT M. ROTHER ...... 1889-1929 LEWIS KURTZ ...... 1926-1938 CONRAD C. RABBE ...... 1930-1937 DR. HANS FROELICHER ...... 1929-1930 CHARLES F. STEIN.JR ...... 1938-1967 CHARLES F. STEIN.JR...... 1936-1938 DR. MORGAN H. PRITCHETT ...... 1967-1971 PROF. JOHN C. HEMMETER ...... 1930-1931 GORDON M. F. STICK, SR...... 1971-1978 CARL.W. PRIOR ...... 1937-1939 DANDRIDGE BROOKE ...... 1978-1983 REV. JOHN G. HACKER, S.J ...... 1938-1946 ELIZABETH LITZINGER ...... 1983-1987 DR. ERNEST J. BECKER ...... 1939-1949 PROF. RANDALL P. DONALDSON ...... 1987- R. LEE SLINGLUFF, JR...... 1939-1951 REV. FRITZ O. EVANS ...... 1942-1955 SECRETARIES WALTER E. BEUCHELT ...... 1944-1951 HERBERT W. SCHAEFER ...... 1949-1951 REV. FR. PH. HENNIGHAUSEN ...... 1886-1905 REV. EDWARD F. ENGELBERT ...... 1949-1953 J. LEONARD HOFFMAN ...... 1905-1911 PROF. AUGUSTUS J. PRAHL ...... 1951-1956 J. CONRAD UHLIG ...... 1911-1913 WILLIAM T. SNYDER, JR ...... 1951-1981 DR. JOHANNES MATTERN ...... 1913-1917 HERBERT F. KUENNE ...... 1953-1958 ANDREW H. METTEE ...... 1918-1933 PROF. WILLIAM H. MCCLAIN ...... 1955-1987 CHARLES H. MIEGEL ...... 1934-1944 KARL F. STEINMANN ...... 1956-1958 PROF. DIETER CUNZ ...... 1944-1956 PROF. O. E. VON SCHWERDTNER ...... 1956-1957 PROF. AUGUSTUS J. PRAHL ...... 1956-1962 KARLW. SCHLITZ ...... 1957-1958 DR. MORGAN H. PRITCHETT ...... 1962-1983 PROF. HAROLD JANTZ ...... 1958-1987 DR. WILLIAM DURDEN ...... 1983-1988 A. RUSSELLSLAGLE ...... 1958-1971 ANNA K. VON SCHWERDTNER ...... 1988- KLAUS G. WUST ...... 1958- ALBERT P. BACKHAUS ...... 1962-1975 CHAIRMEN OF THE EXECUTIVE PROF. CHRISTOPH A. HERING ...... 1962-1967 COMMITTEE HENRY R. HERGENBOEDER ...... 1965-1970 OTTO H. FRANKE ...... 1967-1977 DR. LEWIS H. STEINER ...... 1886-1891 PROF. WALTER KNOCHE ...... 1970-1975 EDWARD F. LEYH ...... 1892-1893 WALTER G. LOHR, SR ...... 1970-1982 CHARLES F. RADDATZ ...... 1893-1901 DANDRIDGE BROOKE ...... 1975-1978 REV. EDWARD HUBER ...... 1901-1906 VERNON H. WIESAND ...... 1975-1987 Louis P. HENNIGHAUSEN ...... 1907-1911 DR. KENNETH G. HORVATH ...... 1976- KARLA. M. SCHOLTZ ...... 1912-1941 PROF. CARRIE-MAY KURRELMEYER ZINTL. 1977- CARL L. NITZE ...... 1942-1949 FREDERICK WEHRENBERG ...... 1980-1987 R. LEE SLINGLUFF JR ...... 1949-1951 DR. WILLIAM DURDEN ...... 1981-1988 LEWIS KURTZ ...... 1951-1954 GARY E. MYER ...... 1981- OTTO H. FRANKE ...... 1954-1962 PROF. GEORGE F. JONES ...... 1981- PROF. HAROLD JANTZ ...... 1962-1965 REV. FREDERICKS. WEISER ...... 1981- WILLIAM T. SNYDER, JR ...... 1965-1981 DR. HOLGER K. HOMANN ...... 1982-1985 PROF. CARRIE-MAY KURRELMEYER ZINTI. 1981-1988 PROF. HANNA GELDRICH-LEFFMAN ...... 1982- HON. GERARD WM. WITTSTADT ...... 1988- THEODORE POTTHASTJR ...... 1983- ELIZABETH LITZINGER ...... 1983-1987 MEMBERS OF THE EXECUTIVE DR. ELKE DURDEN ...... 1985-1988 COMMITTEE 1925-1990 DR. PETER JORDAN ...... 1986- PROF. RANDALL P. DONALDSON ...... 1986- C. WILLIAM SCHNEIDEREITH ...... 1925-1926 REV. H. J. SIEGFRIED OTTO ...... 1987- PROF. WILLIAM KURRELMEYER ...... 1926-1937 HON. GERARD WM. WITTSTADT ...... 1988- ANDREW H. METTEE ...... 1926-1929 MR. CHARLES F. STEIN, III ...... 1989-

[8 ] AN INVITATION

What we are today, we owe in part to our ancestors. Pride of ancestry is commendable in people wherever found. It is this feeling of pride that holds people together, that causes them to cherish and record the deeds of the valor and the achievements of their kin. Indeed, it was a desire to share the glory and the past greatness of one's own people which led to the formation of the Society for the History of Germans in Maryland in 1886, a society which has distinguished itself in becoming the only group of its kind to reach the hundred-year milestone. The Society's purpose is to collect and preserve material which documents the history of the influence of the German element in the growth and development of the United States of America, with particular reference to the State of Maryland. In pursuance of these purposes, the Society has published, over the years, forty-one (41) volumes of its journal entitled, The Report: A Journal of German-American History. Plans now call for the yearly publication of the Society's journal. In the belief that those who receive and read this volume are interested in preserving and perpetuating the knowledge of the meritorious role that those of German heritage have played in the making of our nation and of the State of Maryland, we take the liberty of inviting your cooperation by becoming a member of the Society and/or by making a contribution to it. Once a year, the members of the Society gather for a dinner meeting. At this meeting, various activities of the Society are reported, and an outstanding historian presents a lecture on an aspect of the history of German-Americans. The annual dues are a modest fifteen ($15.00) dollars per year (for either an individual or a couple) which entitles each member to a copy of the journal when it is published (a single issue is mailed to each address). The Society is exempt from both federal and state taxes because of its purposes, and contributions made to the Society are tax deductible. So please remember the Society in your will. The following bequest form is suggested, "I bequest to the Society of the History of the Germans in Maryland, the sum of ------dollars ($ ) to be used by said corporation for the purpose for which it is incorporated." Trusting that we may have the pleasure of a favorable response to our invitation, we are,

Very respectfully,

The Executive Committee

[ 9]

FROM THE EDITOR

In 1986, the Society for the History of the Germans in Maryland celebrated its centennial with the publication of Report No. 40. Now, four years later, Report No. 41 is the first publication of the new century. And there is much to mark the beginning of a new era. In 1986, Carrie-May Zintl, who was then president of the Society, collected material for a volume on German-American families and businesses in Maryland. The response to Dr. Zintl's request for information was so overwhelming that the Executive Committee has decided to make a column on German- American enterprise a standard part of each Report. Bill McClain, long-time member and former vice-president of the Society, has graciously volunteered to write that column, the first install- ment of which appears in these pages. Thanks are due to the many individuals who answered the original call for information. The new century also brings a new look to the Report itself. Beginning with this volume we will attempt to make each edition more readable and to provide the opportunity for graphics to accompany our articles. Thanks largely to computer technology and the tenacity and inspiration of Klaus Wust, the readers of the Report will get a glimpse of the fascinating source documents which inspire the articles we publish. With the new look comes a new editor. After more than thirty years as editor of the Report, Klaus Wust has expressed his desire to retire from active involvement in the editing of each volume. The Society extends its heartfelt thanks to Klaus for all his efforts over the years, and I add a personal note of gratitude for his assistance and sage advice in producing the current issue. Finally, the best news of all. Under the active leadership of Jerry Wittstadt, the Society for the History of the Germans in Maryland is flourishing. As a result of some generous contributions from several sources, including the German Society of Maryland, we are building a modest publication fund which, if it continues to grow, should provide sufficient income to fund the annual publication of this Report. Thus, as the Society inaugurates its second century with the publication of its forty-first Report there exists the very real possibility that we may soon be able to realize the first goal of this organization, the yearly publication of its Report.

Rpd

[ 11 ]

A SALUTE TO THE GERMAN-AMERICAN BUSINESS ENTERPRISES OF BALTIMORE by William H. McClain

Among the plans for the centennial of the tion of being the oldest retail candy manufac- Society for the History of the Germans in turer in the United States, and the Kirk Stieff Maryland in 1986 was to accord special recog- Company, America's oldest silversmiths. nition to German-American business enter- prises of Baltimore City by publishing brief GLAUBER'S CANDIES accounts of their role in the economic and In 1876, the year in which Alexander Gra- cultural life of Baltimore and the State of ham Bell invented the telephone and the Maryland in the Report. Letters were Johns Hopkins University opened its doors addressed to several firms of German- for the first time, John H. Glauber established American origin, and quite a few responded a small candy factory and retail candy shop at by sending brief histories. In this issue we 1037 South Hanover Street which prospered offer accounts of two of the oldest and most and grew. By 1912 two of his sons, Howard A. highly esteemed of Baltimore's German- and J. Milton, had become partners, and the American business enterprises: Glauber's firm name had been changed to John H. Fine Candies, Inc., which enjoys the distinc- Glauber & Sons. With the help of his two

Glauber's First Candy Store, (ca. 1912) Courtesy Kenneth R. Glauber

[ 13 ] partners John Glauber was able to open stalls THE KIRK STIEFF COMPANY in the Cross Street and Hollins markets and to supply candy to department stores and to The first member of the Stieff family to several groceries and bakeries. arrive from Germany was Karl Maximilian By 1935 the Hanover Street quarters had Stieff, who emigrated in the early 1830's. A become too small, and Howard Glauber, then professional musician, he first earned his liv- president, accordingly purchased a property ing by giving piano lessons. Later, reports at 1020 Regester Avenue in North Baltimore Charles C. Stieff II, he also imported pianos where he could both live and work. Space for from Germany for his pupils. In 1850, his son, the factory and also for a small retail shop was John Louis Stieff, went to the gold fields at age provided by adding on to the house. sixteen and discovered gold. With his gold he When Howard Glauber died in 1939, the was able to help his father begin the manufac- responsibility for running the business fell to turing of pianos and thus to launch what soon his widow, Miriam, and his eldest son, How- became known throughout the United States ard A. Glauber, Jr. Howard's younger brother, as the Stieff Piano Company. Kenneth, also became a partner after he had The founder of the firm now known as the finished college. Under the competent man- Kirk Stieff Company was John Louis Stieff's agement of the third generation the company youngest son, Charles Clinton, who left his continued to thrive. In the early 1950's a father's piano company at an early age and candy stall was opened in the newly rebuilt became a wholesale silver distributor. Later Lexington Market; and in 1963 a shop featur- he acquired a small silver manufacturing ing both cards and candies was established in enterprise which assumed as its firm name the Yorkridge Shopping Center. In 1965 the Baltimore Silver Company. In 1892 the firm was incorporated as the Stieff Silver another retail outlet was added in the Perring 2 Plaza Shopping Center. Six years later still Company. another store was started in the Eastpoint Under the able direction of Gideon Mall. 1983 saw the opening of an additional Numsen Stieff the Stieff Silver Company devel- outlet in the Towsontown Centre. The family oped into a national organization which was ultimately decided to close the Lexington represented in every major American city. In Market stall, but the four outlet stores are still the late 1930's the Colonial Williamsburg flourishing. Foundation further enhanced the prestige of the firm by extending to it a license to make all Because of technological advances, as Williamsburg silver reproductions. During Kenneth Glauber notes in his account of his World War II the firm contributed to the war firm's history, candy-making operations today effort by manufacturing radar parts, surgical bear little resemblance to those employed by 1 instruments, and other items of strategic the firm's founder. On the other hand, as he importance. points out, time has not changed "the family tradition of excellence and personal service." After leaving the service in 1946 Rodney G. In manufacturing candies basic recipes are Stieff joined the company. Charles C. Stieff, II still used, and several traditional procedures followed in 1948, and in 1954 Gideon N. Stieff, are still followed. In making caramel, fudge, Jr. came into the firm. From 1956 on, thanks to and nougat products, for example, Kenneth the development of Williamsburg reproduc- Glauber still employs a traditional open-kettle tions, pewter also became an important prod- cooking process, and Howard Glauber, Jr. uct. Soon other restorations — Monticello, "still roasts fresh nuts and crushes them with a Old Sturbridge, the Newport Preservation rolling pin." The old metal molds for Chris Society, Mystic Seaport, Historic Charleston, Kringles, Easter bunnies, and toy shapes have The Boston Museum of Fine Arts, and the of course been replaced by modern fiberglass Smithsonian Institution — were also commis- molds, but the products, Kenneth Glauber sioning silver and pewter reproductions. affirms, "are as tasty and pretty as they were In 1974, James W. Stieff, a representative of 100 years ago." [ 14 ] the fourth generation of the Stieff family, guarantee of a five-year lease of the entered the firm. Four years later, in 1979, a Hampden plant "so that the company's 200 merger was announced between the Stieff employees would not be immediately dis- Silver Company and the eminent Samuel Kirk placed." It was also agreed that Rodney G. Silver Company, America's Oldest Silver- Stieff, the present Chairman of the Kirk Stieff smiths. Today the firm produces and markets Company, would continue to be a member of sterling silver flatware and hollowware, silver the Board of Directors of the new firm, and plated flatware and hollowware, pewter, 14k.- that Pierce Dunn would also remain in his gold designer jewelry, and stainless steel position as President. flatware. A new chapter in the history of the Kirk 'Some of the early machinery used byJohn H. Glauber Stieff Company began on March 9,1990, with was donated by the Glauber family to the Maryland the finalization of a merger agreement Academy of Science and Industrial Museum, where it is now on display. between the firm and Lenox, Inc., which is 2 widely renowned for its fine china. One of the Among the holdings of the Peabody Library of Balti- more is a short history of the early years of the company: terms of the agreement, as reported in the The Stieff Company. Planned and Produced by the Baltimore Messenger of March 28,1990, is a Barton-Gillet Company. Baltimore, 1930.

[ 15 ]

Baron Johannes De Kalb Courtesy Gerard Wm. Wittstadt

[ 16 ] MAJOR GENERAL THE BARON JOHANNES DE KALB: A FORGOTTEN MARYLAND PATRIOT

Following the bloodshed at Lexington and of their contract with Deane, the Baron, Concord, the Continental Congress created Lafayette, and a dozen other French military the Committee of Secret Correspondence1 gentlemen of nobel rank, all with contracts and commissioned Silas Deane, Arthur Lee for ranks of colonel or less, left France on the and Benjamin Franklin as its first Ministers.2 Victoria, a vessel owned by Lafayette. They Deane was ordered to France on March 3, arrived in North America on June 15, 1777, 1776, to plead for help in the form of arms and weighing anchor in the South Inlet, near financial assistance. He was also to seek an Charleston, South Carolina. alliance with France. His arrival in France was The Baron's party journeyed to Philadel- to be discreet, and his welcome was therefore phia and arrived there on July 27,1777. It was informal.3 Nevertheless, the responses in Sunday and the Continental Congress was France to his requests were overwhelming. not in session. Nevertheless, they were able to On March 13,1777, just six days before Baron deliver their letters of recommendations and Johannes de Kalb left France for America, the copies of their contracts to John Hancock, Continental Congress, overrun with appli- then the President of the Continental Con- cants from France for military appointments, gress. The following morning, the party was directed the Committee of Secret Correspond- met in the streets in front of Independence ence by resolution to discourage all "gen- Hall by Robert Morris and James Lovell, tlemen of France" from coming to America members of Congress. They were informed with expectation of employment in the mil- by Lovell that Deane had exceeded his itary service, unless they were masters of the authority and that although there was a need English language and had the best recom- in 1776 for foreign military leaders, that was mendations. not the situation in 1777. He stated that it On November 7, 1776, Deane was intro- seemed that French officers had a great fancy duced to Baron de Kalb by Comte de Broglie, to enter the Continental service without being a close friend of King Louis XIV and a relative invited. Morris and Lovell left the Baron's of the Marquis de Lafayette.4 On December 1, party in the street with the further advisement 1776, Deane contracted with the Baron and that they would in due course, hear from granted him the military grade of Major Congress regarding their "offers" to serve as General in the Continental Army. On officers in the Continental Army. The Baron December 7, 1776, through the efforts of at a later date described this reception as Baron de Kalb, Lafayette was granted the mil- more of a dismissal than a welcome. Lafayette itary grade of Major General in the Continen- described the reception as being "received tal Army. Deane executed that contract as like dogs at a game of ninepins".6 well. It should be emphasized that these con- By a resolution, dated September 8, 1777, tracts were executed prior to March 13,1777, the Continental Congress awarded Lafayette and were therefore not in violation of the the rank of Major General. Lafayette's high resolution of the Continental Congress. Fol- noble rank and his influence at the Court of lowing the execution of the contracts, Deane Louis XVI had indeed impressed the Con- wrote to Congress and stated that he had gress. Lafayette did, however, have to agree to engaged the Baron and Lafayette even serve without pay and without the promise of though he recognized that he was not specifi- a command.7 By that same resolution, the cally empowered by Congress to appoint "offers" of the Baron and the other French officers. Deane described the Baron as one of gentlemen were rescinded. The Baron was the bravest and most skillful officers in selected by the other French gentlemen to France.5 On March 19,1777, on the strength negotiate a settlement of their claims for

[ 17 ] damages. They insisted that the Continental the Congress intended to date his commis- Congress had a legal obligation to honor sion back to November 7, 1776, the date Deane's contracts. The Baron also decided to Deane first met the Baron, so as to give him express his own position separately to the seniority over Lafayette.11 The Baron accepted Congress. He wrote a letter in English in the appointment on September 18, 1777. He which he insisted that Congress fulfill its part insisted that his aide de camp, Chevalier of the contract written by Deane. He empha- Dubuysson, be commissioned a Lieutenant sized his thirty-four years of military service in Colonel and that his own appointment be the French Army, serving lastly as a General.8 dated the same as Lafayette's. He also insisted He stated that salary was not important9 but on a pension for his wife in the event of his that the rank was essential. He indicated no death. jealousy whatsoever of Lafayette, but made it On October 13, 1777, the Baron was clear that he could not serve under his young inducted in the American army and was cor- friend's command, since the two of them dially received by General Washington. He came with the same promises and the same was eventually placed in command of a divi- purposes. He mentioned two instances which sion that consisted in part of the Maryland offended him, the alleged incompetence of Line. Deane by exceeding his authority and the rude treatment accorded him and his party by The Nobility of the Baron Lovell. He further stated that if Congress did De Kalb was born on June 29, 1721, in not want his services, he was ready to return to Hüttendorf, a village a few miles northwest of France — naturally upon reimbursement of Nuremberg in central Bavaria, Germany. His his expenses. He indicated that a law suit parents were Johann Leonard Kalb and Mar- against Deane, and by implication against garetha, née Seitz. Congress, in France would not help the Amer- It is believed that the Baron left Hüttendorf ican cause. There seemed to be an uneasy in his mid-teens to join the French Army. feeling in Congress that such a suit would Records reflect that in 1743 he was serving as have merit and that it would prove to be an a Lieutenant in a German-staffed infantry embarrassment to America. regiment of France named Löwendel in the Congress reconsidered its rejection of the area of Nuremberg. For many years it was Baron and by a resolution, dated September common belief in America that the Baron 15,1777, offered him a Major Generalship in had been born into a noble family which had its army. The Congress' reversal of its pre- settled centuries earlier in the Franconia sec- vious action was due in large part to the favor- tion of Germany, but that belief can now be able impression the Baron had made on var- discarded. His parents were freeholders, not ious members of Congress with whom he had aristocrats. That is not to say, however, that been negotiating in regard to his own claims the Baron was not later a member of the and those of the other French gentlemen. His nobility or that he merely assumed the tide of ability to speak English, French, and German "Baron" to facilitate his advancement in the as well as his brilliant military career in the French Army or his appointment to the French army set him substantially apart from Continental Army. He did acquire the tide the other French gentlemen. Even Lovell was "Chevalier"12 and the right to the use of "de" impressed. In a letter to another member of in front of his last name when, in 1763, King Congress, he praised the Baron and de- Louis XVI bestowed on him the Order of scribed him as resembling General Washing- Military Merit.13 This award came in recogni- ton in looks and manners. Lovell even tion of his outstanding bravery in the Battle of expressed concern that it would be America's Wilhelmstal during the course of the Seven loss if the Baron now refused the Major Year War. Thus, for more than a decade Generalship.10 In another letter from a before the Baron was appointed a Major member of Congress, the Baron learned that General in the American Army, he was a [ 18 ] member of the French nobility. The Baron were moving from New York south to married Anne Elizabeth Emile van Robais on Charleston, South Carolina, and it was April 10,1764. She was the daughter of Peter obvious that the theatre of war was moving van Robais, an aristocrat and a wealthy cloth south, General Washington ordered Baron de manufacturer in Paris, who in turn was the Kalb to make preparation to move his division son of a prominent citizen of Holland, who of Maryland and Delaware troops south to aid had settled in France and established a large the Army of the South under the command of cloth factory. The factory prospered and General Benjamin Lincoln. De Kalb's divi- proved to be so successful that King Louis XIV sion, which was considered one of the best awarded the family with a patent of nobility. trained, was to be strengthened by the infan- In fact, the Baron's eldest son, Frederic de try and calvary of the French "Armand Kalb, died a victim of the guillotine during the Legion", commanded by Marcuis de la French Revolution partly because of his Rouere, as well as by the militias from various nobility. Even later, descendants of the Baron southern colonies. When De Kalb arrived in enjoyed the privileges of nobility. The baron's Petersburg, Virginia, he was informed of the grand-daughter, Leonore de Kalb married surrender of General Lincoln on May 12, Vicomte d'Abzac and his grandniece, Kuni- 1780. General Washington had designated De gunda Egelseer of Hüttendorf, married Kalb the new Commander of the Army of the Johann Andreas Wirtstadt, a direct descend- South. The surrender of General Lincoln's ant of one of the oldest aristocratic families of forces was judged by Congress to be one of Franconia.14 Although no documentation can the worst disasters of the war. On July 25th, be found, it is generally believed by descend- Congress, in haste and without consulting ants of the Baron that the baronage was an with General Washington, designated Gener- award for his acts of gallantry in the French al Horatio Gates to replace General de Kalb as army. In fact, no contemporary of the Baron, Commander of the Army of the South. This including the Comte de Broglie, the Marquis was done with full knowledge that General de Lafayette, and the French gentlemen who Gates did not enjoy the complete confidence served with him, ever challenged the Baron's of General Washington. Baron de Kalb right to the tide. Many of these gentlemen had moved his division to Hillsboro, North Caro- noble titles of their own and knew of the lina. His immediate subordinate officers were various levels of nobility. Many historical General William Smallwood and General works on the French army give examples of Mordecai Gist. individuals who enlisted in the French army, Disregarding the advice of de Kalb and rose to high ranks, and were subsequently others who knew local conditions, General awarded with patents of nobility. Some histo- Gates ordered the American Army to meet the rians believe that France had accorded de British Army. Gates insisted on taking a route Kalb the tide of "Baron". These facts suggest a which could not supply the men or their valid right to the tide. Those who speak of the horses with sufficient and proper food. The Baron as the "so-called Baron" or the "self- route led through desolate country, and the styled Baron" and otherwise allude to the tide diet of the troops during their inarch to the as a suggestion of dishonesty must bear the enemy consisted of green fruit and unripened burden of proving that the tide was not prop- corn. This, as it turned out, had an ill effect. erly received. When the American Army met the British forces under the command of Lord Charles Fighting with the Maryland Line Cornwallis on August 16,1780, a large number Although Baron de Kalb longed for a of the men and their horses were unfit for chance to gain glory, he was in the service of battle. The First Maryland Brigade was under the Continental Army for nearly three years the immediate command of General Gist and before he even so much as heard a gun go off. the Second Maryland Brigade was under the In the spring of 1780, when the British forces immediate command of General Smallwood.

[ 19 ] Baron de Kalb, well seconded by General dying Baron of his uniform. There he stood, Gist, remained in the front lines of the First bleeding to death, when Cornwallis came by Maryland Brigade. and rescued him from the despoilers. Corn- When the two forces met, the British, after wallis caused him to be cared for by the Brit- firing only one volley, rushed forward in a ish surgeons. De Kalb died three days later. bayonet attack. The militiamen that joined De He was buried with military honors by his Kalb's forces from the South had never been victorious adversaries. Before his death, he under fire and had not been trained in the told the British officers who were consoling use of the bayonets. Weak and terrified as they him in his misfortune, "I thank you for your were, they cast away their muskets and ran for generous sympathy, but I die the death I their lives. This action caused the French always prayed for — the death of a soldier 15 Legion also to retreat. General Gates was fighting for the rights of man." Many years swept away in the rout of the militiamen and later, General Washington visited the grave of he did not stop his retreat until he reached the Baron in Camden. After gazing sadly, he Charlotte, some 60 miles from the battlefield. exclaimed, "So here lies the brave de Kalb, the The Maryland Line, supported by the Dela- generous stranger who came from a distant ware troops, was thrown into battle against land to fight our battles and water with his the overwhelming British forces. De Kalb's blood the tree of liberty." troops engaged the British hotly. Not only did his troops hold the British off, but on several A Forgotten Maryland Patriot occasions, they broke through the British line Notwithstanding the fact that Baron de and captured prisoners. De Kalb's troops were Kalb has been described as one of the most winning the fight initially and thought that skillful and bravest soldiers in the American the enure battle was going as well. De Kalb did Revolutionary War and that he was the Com- not know of Gates' retreat or of the retreat of manding General of the Maryland Line, he the rest of the Southern Army. He never seems to have been largely neglected by his- received orders from General Gates to retreat, torians and has thus become a forgotten so his troops fought on. Indeed, it has been American hero.16 Perhaps as well as an said that never had troops shown greater unsung Maryland patriot The Baron de Kalb courage than those men from Maryland and has been assigned a relatively insignificant Delaware. With the same unflinching resist- place in the history of our country. Very few ance that the Maryland Line had shown at the places have been named in his honor and Battle of Long Island in 1776, the Maryland even fewer monuments have been erected in Line and the Delaware troops contended with his memory. It seems that he has always stood the superior force of the enemy in the in the shadows of those generals who sur- summer of 1780. vived the Revolutionary War. Few Americans De Kalb's horse was shot from under him today recognize his name. Even fewer are and while he was directing the movement of familiar with any significant facts relating to his troops on foot, his head was laid open by a his contributions to the American cause. sabre stroke. Cornwallis, with a force nearly Some historians will argue that his obscurity is four times greater than De Kalb's surrounded undoubtedly the result of the anti-German De Kalb's forces, but De Kalb led his troops feelings that existed in this country for many through the enemy's ranks. Finally, bleeding years flowing from Germany's position in the from eleven wounds, General de Kalb fell. His first and second world wars and, as a conse- troops broke up and scattered for the wood- quence, from the inability of German ethnic lands and swamps; the battle came to an end. groups to have their voices heard for those Chevalier Dubuysson threw himself on top of many years. Even if this argument is valid, his his General's battered body. Some of the obscurity must be based also on other reasons enemy immediately pick up De Kalb, propped because the neglect existed even before him against a wagon, and started to strip the World War I.

[ 20 ] Only twice have historians been induced to was given to memorializing the birthplace of write a serious treatise of his life. It was more the Baron. On May 22, 1960, in the City of than eighty years after his death before his New York, the Federation of American Citi- first biography was written. This first work was zens of German Descent gave tribute on written not in America but in Germany. In "Deutschen Tag" to the Baron. Later, on July 1862, in Stuttgart, Friedrich Kapp authored 9,1960, in Huettendorf, the Federation dedi- Das Leben des amerikanischen Generals Johann cated a plaque to the memory of the Baron on von Kalb. This work was later translated into the house that is now located on the site English and published first privately (1870) where he was born. and then publicly (1884 ) in New York, under Portraits of the Baron can be found in the tide The Life of John Kalb. A more compre- Independence Hall in Philadelphia and in hensive study entitled General de Kalb, the museum of the Maryland Historical Lafayette's Mentor was written many years later Society in Baltimore. The Philadelphia por- by A. E. Zucker (see note 6). trait was painted by Charles Wilson Peale; the In Camden, South Carolina, where the Baltimore portrait is by James Lambin. Baron is buried, his grave was marked for There are nine towns and villages in the nearly half a century by nothing more than a United States named De Kalb. None are in tree. It was not until 1825, through the efforts Maryland. There are also six counties that of the citizens of Camden, that a monument bear his name. They are located in Alabama, was erected over his grave. General Lafayette Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Missouri and Ten- laid the cornerstone for this monument on a nessee. De Kalb, Illinois, is the only city journal through the United States. The named after him. In some major cities in the inscription on this monument reads in part, United States, there are streets named in "Here lie the remains of Baron de Kalb, a memory of the Baron. Unfortunately none German by birth, but in principle a citizen of can be found in Maryland. the world." While it is incumbent upon every American On October 14,1780, the Continental Con- to preserve the memory of those eminent gress passed a resolution that decreed that a Europeans who, like De Kalb, left their fami- federal monument was to be erected to the lies and their homes to fight the battle for memory of the Baron in the City of Annapo- American liberty, it is particularly desirable lis. It is painful to know that this resolution that we of German descent here in Maryland was not carried into effect for well over one- should know and duly honor the memory of hundred years. In 1886, on the anniversary of Baron De Kalb, who gave his life while leading the Battle of Camden, an impressive larger- the Maryland Line during our war of than-life-size bronze statue was unveiled and independence. dedicated on the grounds of the State House I am pleased to say that the Society for the in Annapolis. History of the Germans in Maryland is one At the time of the death of the Baron, there organization which has not neglected nor were certain arrears of pay due him. The fam- forgotten the Baron de Kalb. On the occasion ily of the Baron petitioned the Congress for of the dedication of the De Kalb statue in years for liquidation of their claims. Although Annapolis in 1886, the newly-founded Society these claims proved to be just even when sub- made it first public appearance and took part jected to the severest scrutiny, they were in the festivities.17 passed over from session to session. Finally, In addition, the Society has published more in 1855, seventy-five years after his death, an articles relating to the Baron than any other Act of Congress was passed authorizing the publication.18 payment of $66,090.67 to the descendants of —Gerard Wm. Wittstadt, Sr. the Baron de Kalb for his services and his Baltimore, MD ultimate sacrifice. It was not until 1960 that any consideration

[ 21 ] 1The foreign affairs of the United States during the 8The Baron was serving as an officer in the French period of the Continental Congress were under the direc- Army as early as 1743. He attained the rank of Brigadier tion of Congress. In November 1775, seven months in the French Colonial Army. It has been suggested by before the Declaration of Independence, a secret com- historians that the Baron's further advancement in the mittee was appointed to maintain foreign contacts. French Army was blocked because of his Protestant faith 2The highest ranking officer in the American diplo- and his German birth. matic service up to 1893 was a Minister. In 1893, Congress 9The Baron's wealth was considered to be created the higher rank of Ambassador. substantial. 3Official reception of diplomatic representatives is The value of his properties and those of his wife regarded as formal recognition of the country which they amounted to approximately half a million francs. He represent. France, which was at peace with England, did owned the Chateau Milon-la-Chapelle, situated on spa- not want to incur the wrath of England's might by for- cious grounds outside of Versailles. It is still today owned mally receiving Dean. France had lost the Seven Years by his descendants. He also owned a substantial mansion War (French and Indian War) and lost many of its hold- in Courbevoye, a suburb of Paris. ings in North America to England. France was thirsting 10Letter, dated September 17,1777, to William Whipple. for revenge and was therefore eager to inflame the quar- 11Letter, dated October 9,1777, from Henry Laurens. rel between England and its American colonies. 12A chevalier is equivalent to a knight. 4Lafayette was a recently-married youth of nineteen 13This award was the highest honor that the King of years, a young man of high noble rank and enormous France could bestow on a non-Catholic. wealth. His military experience consisted of a summer of 14The Wittstadt/von Wittstadt family can trace its ances- maneuvers without actually being in combat. He could try to the sixth century. It includes among its descendants not obtain his family's consent to go to America unless he four Prince-Bishops of Würzburg. went as a general officer. 15Zucker, op. cit., p. 227. 5Lord Stormond, the English Minister to France, was 16In the summer of 1980, many descendants of Baron informed by his spies that a prominent and experienced de Kalb commemorated the anniversary of his death by officer was being sent to America. In a letter to Lord attending a family reunion at Milon-la-Chapelle in Weymouth, Stormond describes the Baron as an officer France and later at his place of birth in Hünendorf, of distinction and a man of ability. Germany. These and other descendants living in France, 6Adolf E. Zucker, General de Kalb: Lafayette's Mentor Germany and the United States strongly feel that Ameri- (Chapel Hill: Univ. of North Carolina Press, 1966), 132. can history has neglected their ancestor. 7Lafayette contributed over two hundred thousand 17R. Ph. Henninghausen, "The Report of the Secre- ($200,000.00) dollars of his own wealth to the Continental tary," Report 1 (1887), p. 21. Array, but never requested repayment. 18Dieter Cunz, "De Kalb and Maryland," Report, 20 (1942), 18-22; A. E. Zucker, "An Interesting Baron de Kalb Letter," Report 31 (1963), p. 59-62.

[ 22 ] THE GERMANTOWN PROTEST AND AFRO- GERMAN RELATIONS IN PENNSYLVANIA AND MARYLAND BEFORE THE CIVIL WAR

German-Americans and abolitionism — if ment in Maryland and most recently by one believes the history books — are syn- LaVerne J. Rippley. Both authors differen- onymous. Motivated by their own experiences tiate the anti-slavery attitudes of the older in Europe, German immigrants reportedly German migration (pre-1800's) from that of were repulsed by the proliferation of slavery the group which arrived as refugees from the in the new homeland and both actively and political turmoil of the 1840's.1 If the German- passively opposed what they considered an town Protest has value as a source document inhumane system. One measure of their pas- for German anti-slavery sentiment then one sive anti-slavery activity was a refusal to might expect some sort of casual relationship exploit the labor of Africans in any form. The between the Protest and German-Black inter- popular histories, that is, the textbooks util- actions between 1700-1860. ized to teach American history in our schools, When the Germanic settlers arrived in state unequivocally that Germans as a group Pennsylvania in 1683 Africans and African did not own slaves. Increasingly, the German- slavery had already been present in the Dela- town Protest is used to explain the origins of ware Valley for at least four decades. In Mary- this humanitarian struggle against popular land it had been tolerated since at least 1642.2 opinion and convention. In both areas African laborers had been One need not be a professional historian to obtained, presumably from the flourishing discover how deeply slavery was rooted in the seventeenth century slave trade that con- American system both before and after the tinued the process begun in the sixteenth cen- creation of the Bill of Rights. Slavery and the tury of depopulating Western Africa to meet issue of equal rights for Blacks were and are the labor needs of Spanish and Portuguese the political controversy that threatened the New World colonies. The establishment of Constitutional Convention, engendered the English colonies in North America did Fugitive Slave Acts of 1797 and 1850, necessi- nothing to impede or reduce the spread and tated the Missouri Compromise and the growth of this trade in human beings. Compromise of 1850, contributed to the out- Quaker Pennsylvania also required labor- break of the Civil War, and precipitated the ers and embraced slavery as a convenient Civil Rights Movement which in recent years solution. In 1684 a consignment of one has floundered because it has collided with hundred-fifty slaves was sold to the highest the bedrock problem of economic justice. bidders in Philadelphia3 and slavery began its Within that context, the Germantown Protest slow but steady infiltration of all levels of would seem to have been the most important colonial society. From a prerequisite for sur- document for Black Americans before the vival of the colony, slavery soon evolved into a Declaration of Independence and the Consti- status symbol, an outward sign of wealth and tution itself. So it would seem. position. At that point it had become so In the following I propose to re-examine intertwined with Pennsylvania's social fabric the Germantown Protest from the perspective that its removal was unthinkable and fraught of its impact on Afro-German relations in with the danger of extensive social disruption. Pennsylvania and Maryland during the suc- The Germantowners arrived early in this ceeding two centuries, up to the Civil War. process and thus witnessed the rapid prolifer- Specifically, I am interested in testing a ation of Africans and slavery. Their reaction hypothesis formulated forty years ago by was the Germantown Protest. It is misleading, Dieter Cunz in his book on the German ele- however, to read a special empathy for Afri-

[ 23 ] cans into that document. The German- not as much right to fight for their freedom, towners' condemnation of slavery was moti- as you have to keep them slaves? vated in part by self-interest. Slaves were These protesters argue here very pragmat- unpaid laborers and as members of a ically. working-class settlement the Germantowners The spectre of slave revolt — a not un- were understandably apprehensive at the common phenomenon in the Spanish and prospect of a large pool of cheap labor with Portuguese colonies — was an intimidating which they would have to compete. prospect. But potentially even more threaten- Furthermore, although the protesters use ing to Quakers was the likelihood that such the Golden Rule to argue cogently against the revolts could test Quaker commitment to paci- inhumanity of involuntary servitude, their fism as a way of life. In effect the German- underlying perception of Africans is not towners were saying that slavery was not only entirely free of ego-and ethnocentrism. The morally wrong but its presence created a situa- core of their argument is contained in the tion which would ultimately challenge a basic following passage:4 tenet of the Society of Friends, possibly de- You surpass Holland and Germany in this stroying in the process the source of that thing. This makes an ill report in all those group's moral authority. Self-interest was an Countries of Europe, where they hear off that important motivation for the protest because ye Quakers doe here handle men licke they some of the Germantowners were beginning handle there ye Cattel. And for that reason some have no mind or inclination to come to identify themselves with the Society of hither, and who shall maintaine this your Friends as is manifest in the audience chosen cause or plaid for it? for the protest. A second motive — concern The oblique reference to Holland and Ger- for the plight of the African — is not as many was intended as a comparison. Dutch uncomplicated or unambiguous as historians and German traders had been engaged in the would have us believe. slave trade for some time but to the The text of the protest provides brief Germantowners Quaker involvement far 5 glimpses of the Germantowners' attitude exceeded that of the other groups. Appar- towards Africans. A central concept is the ently, it was not only the intensity of Quaker notion of servitude. Coming from Central involvement in the trade that was disturbing Europe the Germantowners were well ac- but also its proximity to Germantown that quainted with servitude. Seldom still existed prompted the protest. there as well as the ever present danger of The Germantowners would have us believe that Quaker involvement in the slave trade enslavement from marauding Turks. This was turning public opinion against Pennsyl- experiential background lent added fervor to the protest's denunciation of involuntary vania in some parts of Europe. As a conse- 7 quence, potential colonists were reconsider- servitude: ing whether or not they should emigrate There is a saying that we shall do to all men, there. A reduction in the flow of colonists to licke we will be done our selves; making no difference of what generation, descent or Pennsylvania was certainly not a prospect Colour they are. And those who steal or robb which the colonial government would wel- men, and those who buy or purchase them, come. The Germantowners had an even direr are they not all alicke? Here is liberty of con- prediction should the slave trade not cease:6 science, whch is right & reasonable/likewise If once these slaves (wch they say are so liberty of ye body./ But to bring men hither, wicked and stubbern men) should joint them- or to robb and sell them against their will, we selves, fight for their freedom and handel stand against. their masters & mastrisses as they did handel These are strong sentiments indeed. them before; will these masters & mastrisses But what sort of men were these enslaved tacke the sword at hand & warr against these Africans? As noted above, the German- poor slaves, licke wee are able to believe, some towners believed many of them to be will not refuse to doe? Or have these negers "wicked" and "stubborn." This mildly nega-

[ 24 ] tive characterization is strengthened by a tell- usage clearly indicates at least tacit accept- ing reference to the Africans: "Now tho' they ance of the ethnocentrism then current in are black, we cannot conceive there is more contacts between Europeans and dark- liberty to have them slaves, as it is to have skinned races. More significantly, it signals an other white ones."8 Color is a critical issue for ambivalence in the perception of Africans the Germantowners. Their demand is for fair that would influence future contacts between treatment despite the Africans' skin color — at the two groups. least a tacit recognition that skin color can The Protest's latent ambivalence stems in negatively affect social status. Equally interest- part from the fact that it was intended for ing is the term used to identify the Africans. internal rather than public discussion. The African identity has been a controversial Philadelphia Yearly Meeting's minutes show subject for centuries. Racism decreed an infer- clearly that for almost three generations the ior role for all people of color and therefore question of slavery was discussed in the as recently as 1941 in his The Myth of the Negro Monthly Meetings without any resolution Past Melville J. Herskovits felt compelled to until the two decades before the Revolution- defend the notion that Egyptians were Afri- ary War when the Quaker leadership in Penn- cans and that dark-skinned races were capa- sylvania successfully curtailed Quaker in- ble of creating great civilizations such as the volvement in the slave trade by disowning all Egyptian. The Germantowners were obviously offenders against this self-imposed ban. aware of the danger of using race to stigma- A similar development among Maryland's tize individuals but nevertheless referred to Friends was not completed until 1780,11 the Africans as "negers." year in which Pennsylvania began the process The word "neger" uses, of course, color as of phasing out its slave population by enact- the sole designation of racial group. Other ing the Gradual Abolition Act. racial groups are identified by a region where German involvement in this early anti- they allegedly originated. The etymology of slavery activity was minimal. Indeed in 1844 "neger" is also very instructive. A quick glance when the existence of the Protest was "dis- in Grimm's Deutsches Wörterbuch confirms that covered",12 Quakers presented it as a Quaker the word used most frequently to refer to Afri- document and as early evidence of their anti- cans by Germans before 1800 was "Mohr."9 slavery activity. That action ignored, of There was, however, some confusion in the course, the fact that the protest was directed use of the term since it was applied indiscrim- against Quaker merchants who bought, sold, inately to refer to Ethiopians, Turks, North and used slaves. With the exception of an Africans, and to a lesser extent to dark- editorial in Christopher Sauer II's German- skinned Sub-Saharan peoples — the latter town newspaper "Pennsylvania Berichte" groups were relatively unknown in Europe from 1761, evidence of German-Black rela- before 1600. It is worth noting that according tions can be extrapolated only by an analysis to Grimm the term "Neger" first came into of diverse information sources such as church common German usage near the end of the records, newspapers, court records, census eighteenth century when it found its way as a returns, and — in the case of Frederick French loan word into Johann Christoph County, Maryland — Jacob Engelbrecht's Adelung's dictionary. marvelously detailed record of daily life in The Germantowners' use of the word Frederick during the Antebellum Period. "neger" could indicate either English or Let us then extract some information from Dutch influence. The Oxford English Dic- these sources. Surveying the entire period tionary documents the use of the word under discussion, one is stuck not just by the "negro" as early as 1555 when it was used as a coexistence of Blacks and Germans but also synonym for "Ethiopian."10 Whatever the by the variety of their interactions. Moravian, source of their term, the Germantowners' Lutheran, and Reformed Church records

[ 25 ] from both Pennsylvania and Maryland doc- dorf on his return to Germany in 1743 and ument a significant Black presence. It is not died the next year in Marienborn.15 always clear whether the Blacks listed in those Even Moravian philanthropy had over- records were accepted as members of the var- tones of ambivalence. In volume one of "The ious congregations, but they were unques- Bethelhem Diary," the minutes of the meet- tionably baptized, married, and buried by the ings of the congregation council between clergymen of those churches. A few brief ci- 174244, the protocol for October 31/Novem- tations from several churches in both states ber 11, 1742, contains a very revealing can perhaps illustrate the range and depth of passage:16 Black involvement in German churches dur- It was further proposed to get rid of our white ing the period. hired hands, because to present they have The Moravian settlement at Bethelhem, behaved so arrogantly and insolently. And Pennsylvania, exemplifies one aspect of Afro- should we be compelled to keep hired hands, it would be preferable to buy Negroes from St. German interaction that was transatlantic in Thomas and employ them as regular servants nature. Among the residents there in the who would receive wages, to show Pennsylva- 1740's was:13 nia and a conscientious author, who in his Andrew, alias York, alias Ofodobendo writing has opposed slavekeeping, how one Wooma, a native of Ibo, Guinea. Baptized at can treat even Negroes. Bethelhem 1746, and presented to Span- We would always simply deceive ourselves genberg by Thomas Noble of New York. He should we have dealings with such people married Magdalen alias Beulah Brockden, a with the laudable intention of converting native of Great Popo, Guinea. Died at Bethel- them. hem, March 1779. No one becomes converted in a state of This terse notice is complemented by a refer- servitude; such folk seek their own advantage 14 and harbor false designs. ence to another Andrew. The second If one should wish to help people pay off Andrew apparently played an important role their debts one should do so out of pity and as in the history of the Moravians. A slave on St. an act of mercy, and then let them go their Thomas in the Danish West Indies, Andrew way again. came to Denmark as the possession of a Court This homespun pragmatism is perhaps a Laurwig around 1730. There Count Zinzen- humane way of not exploiting the misfor- dorf, spiritual leader of the Moravians, tunes of others, but it gives an unsympathetic reportedly made his acquaintance and had view of Blacks. This Moravian brother, and him brought to his estate at Herrnhut. perhaps the entire council, obviously consid- In Herrnhut Andrew so eloquently repre- ered Blacks to be a deprived and thus sented the plight of his people on St. Thomas depraved species. Such an attitude, steeped as that the Moravians reportedly were moved to it is in an ambivalent sense of charity, might begin missionary and philanthropic work that easily be transformed into hostility should the would take them to Greenland, Lapland, objects of that charity and pity not adhere to Africa, and the Americas. In the New World, the giver's expected behavioral norms. especially in North America, settlements such Even more importantly, the Moravian as Bethelhem, Nazareth, and Winston Salem experience in Bethelhem leads us to a most were established as operational bases from complex problem: German involvement in which the Moravians launched their fre- slavery. Were Germans slaveholders? If so quently perilous missions to christianize and then to what extent? If one considers the early educate Indians and Africans. Thus a triangle German settlement areas in Pennsylvania exchange came into being. Through their and Maryland, namely, Lancaster, York, missions Moravians and their Africans con- Frederick, and Washington Counties, then we verts moved from the West Indies to Pennsyl- must affirm that Germans were indeed slave- vania, to Germany, and back. Andrew from St. holders but not major slaveholders. Admit- Thomas, for example, lived for a time in tedly, the existing data for those areas during Bethelhem and then accompanied Zinzen- the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries is

[ 26 ] too sketchy to render a definitive answer but lated event From 1684 to the appearance of even a cursory glance at the 1790 Census Sauer's editorial in 1761 there are numerous reveals an interesting contradiction of tradi- documented references to Germans and Afri- tional assumptions about Germans and cans in a master-slave relationship. For slaveholding. example, the German Lutheran pioneer John In Pennsylvania in 1790, York and Lancas- Caspar Stoever recorded his baptism of ter Counties had the largest and third largest "Johannes Jung's Negro children" on July 23, slave populations. In fact, 22% of all the slaves 1733 in Schifenthill (Montgomery County?). held in the Commonwealth were housed in Their names were Sybilla, Daniel, Margare- the two counties considered today to be the tha, Ludwig, Jacob, and Johannes and their heart of the Pennsylvania Dutch country. In ages 10, 8, 6, 4, 2, and 5 months.18 Maryland, whose slave population in 1790 of One of the more unusual cases of German 103,036 ranked third among the sixteen slaveholding is that of Gideon Moor,19 the states, only 4.8% of that population was found slave of Rev. George Michael Weiss, who pas- in those counties with a significant German tored at — among others — the New Gosho- population as a result of eighteenth century hoppen Reformed Church in Montgomery migrations. However, the total of 4,927 slaves County. His master died in 1761 and was fol- in Frederick and Washington Counties con- lowed a few years later by his mistress. From trasts markedly with York and Lancaster's the late 1760's up to the eve of the Revolution- total of 847. Of course, not all of the slave- ary War, Gideon and the Goshohoppen con- owners in the four counties were German, gregation were embroiled in one law suit after but a survey of the census comparing slave another. Gideon claimed that his mistress had ownership and German surname shows that willed her house to him which the congrega- in Lancaster and York Boroughs 24 of 59 and tion refuted. There followed a series of nui- 15 of 30 slaves, that is, 41% and 50% respec- sance actions filed by Gideon such as trespass, tively of the salves in those boroughs were malicious mischief, etc. Finally in 1776 owned by individuals with German surnames. Gideon's lawyers tried a new tactic: they pro- Census returns for Frederick County, Mary- posed to prove his right to the property by land's earliest German settlement area, unfor- questioning the validity of the church's tide to tunately do not reflect governmental subdivi- the land. Unfortunately, there seems to be no sions but 115 slaveholders with German record of how the dispute was settled. surnames owned 282 slaves of 7.8% of the A similar set of circumstances can be found total slave population in the County. In in Maryland. Frederick County's Monocracy Washington County 63 slaveholders with Lutheran Church records contain a reference German surnames owned 248 slaves or 19% of to a baptism on May 31,1749 of Jacob, son of the County total of 1,286. Slavery was an aspect "Richard Wosle, Negro,"20 but potentially of Afro-German relations in Pennsylvania more sensational are two references to a cer- and Maryland but what was its origin and tain James who was "of Ethiopian nationality what conclusions can be drawn about the in service with Johannes Hoffmann." This nature of the relationship between master James has two sons baptized on April 13,1743: and slave? one named Samuel and one who was the Perhaps the earliest reference to German illegitimate offspring of a liaison with "the slaveholding in Pennsylvania is a letter writ- white servant girl, Eva Margaretha (surname ten by Cornelius Bom, a former resident of not given), member of the so-called Reformed Philadelphia who joined the Germantown church standing in service with him at settlement. Writing to Rotterdam in 1684 Bom Johannes Hoffman."21 In Colonial America commented on his living arrangements in fornication and bastardy were punishable Germantown by noting: "I have no regular offenses; miscegenation was also. servants except one Negro whom I had The above entries can be multiplied sev- bought."17 Bom's purchase was not an iso- eral times over and found replicated in the

[ 27 ] German congregations at Graceham (Mary- ethnocentrism when they attempt to portray land), Lancaster, York, Hagerstown, etc. It forceful abduction, sale, and involuntary ser- is not surprising therefore that in his Febru- vitude as Christian benevolence vis-a vis a ary 13, 1761, editorial Christopher Sauer primitive race. Such logic files in the face of all commented. we know about the level of culture and civili- It has been noted with dismay that Germans zation in West Africa before and during the [in the area] have gotten involved in the period of European colonial expansion. Also inhumane practice of buying negros because the number of runaway slave advertisements they can no longer have German servants.22 demonstrate the willingness of many Blacks Sauer's consternation was engendered in part to escape bondage whenever the opportunity by German involvement in the slave trade. presented itself. Equally lamentable to his mind was the Maryland newspapers for the Post-Revolu- expansion of the trade itself, Quaker mer- tionary War period are a gold mine of infor- chants seemed on the verge of establishing a mation for local history enthusiasts, genealo- direct link to Africa that might guarantee a gists, and researchers interested in Black veritable flood of slaves. Three ships had history. A typical example of the sort of been sent directly to Africa perhaps in the information to be found is contained in this hope of reducing the time and expense advertisement from the Maryland Journal and involved in having Africans "seasoned" in the Baltimore Advertiser of December 1,1789:23 West Indies. Should this scheme be success- Eight Dollars Reward ful, Sauer feared conditions similar to those in RAN AWAY, from the subscriber on the Night the Carolinas would soon obtain in Pennsyl- of the 18th Inst. a NEGRO WENCH called ELEANOR, alias NELL, but supposed will vania. According to Sauer's report White change her Name, and, probably, call herself Carolinians were so outnumbered by Afri- LINDY: She is about 20 years of Age, about 5 cans that they could not sleep at night for fear Feet 3 Inches high, stout made, bold Look, of slave insurrections. It is interesting to note swallow Complexion, short wooly Hair, the parallels between Sauer's warning and the which is very knotty, has a scar on one of her premonition of the Germantown protesters Cheeks, near the Temple, walks very brisk, understands and can speak German; has a about the dangers of the slave trade. soft Voice, and speaks fast, fond of Dress, and Clearly, Black and Germans experienced has a great Variety of Clothes with her [....] each other at close quarters. Such contacts George P. Keeports much have had some impact on attitudes and Baltimore, November 29,1789 perceptions. Here again the dearth of in- The important bit of information in this depth documentation and an overabundance notice is something that researchers have lar- of minutiae hinder generalization. Obviously gely ignored. In some cases a significant part nothing definitive can be said about Afro- of the acculturation process for Afro- German relations until more research is con- Americans has been the contact with ethnic ducted on individual responses to such con- groups and a resultant need to acquire profi- tacts. Increasing the sample can perhaps ciency in languages other than English. establish patterns which in turn can lead to Where is the research on the Black enclaves hypotheses about group behavior. Three that were proficient in Pennsylvania German? final sources of information provide at least Newspaper advertisements can also shed initial movement in that direction. light on the nature of the master-slave rela- Eighteenth and nineteenth century news- tionship. An appropriate example is the fol- papers from Maryland and Pennsylvania pro- lowing notice from the October 1, 1788, edi- vide useful insights into everyday interactions tion of the Neue Unpartheyische Lancaster of Germans and Blacks. Some, but unfortu- Zeitung: nately not all historians have long since dis- For Sale at a good price with favorable terms carded the myth of slavery's essential benevo- A negress and two beautiful children, lence. Apologists for slavery betray their own A boy and a girl (both duly registered accord-

[ 28 ] ing to the law). The woman is a slave for life, the following remarkable entry in his diary:26 the children are indentured to serve until the "We hold these truths to be self=evident, that age of 28. The woman is herself only 25 years all men are born FREE, that they have been old, able to serve in either the city or the endowed by their creator with certain un= country, she can speak both English and German. Several types of grain, flour, whis- alienable rights among which are Life, Liberty key, or other produce will be accepted at the and the pursuit of happiness" Declera. of prevailing market price as payment and the Independence, I was forceably Struck by the terms made easy for the buyer. Interested above Sentence, this morning, at Seeing a parties can inquire as to price and terms. Ask drove of fellow beings whose chance of birth for the undersigned at the Lancaster hath put them in perpetual Slavery — I mean Courthouse. a set of "Soul-drivers" who in two instances, Salomon Etting two & two hand-cuffed together — Shame, N.B. The negress would prefer to be sold to a Shame for this land of Liberty— "Remember German farmer who lives reasonably close to God the revenger reigns" Lancaster.24 Engelbrecht's anti-slavery sentiment which Generalizations are not feasible on the basis surfaces so forcefully here led him to support of this one advertisement but here is proof the Union cause forty years later. Throughout that the slavery experience was not uniform. his long life he maintained many friendships The slave's opinion was not only solicited but among Frederick's Black community as is evi- also considered in the plans to sell her and dent in the last entry in the diary made by her family. Furthermore, her preference of a Englebrecht's son on the occasion of his German farmer as a future master is signifi- father's death and funeral. It was noted that: cant and indicates a positive attitude at least of "a large number of Colored persons came to pay their last respect, a class among whom he this slave towards Germans. Obviously, more 27 had many friends." material must be gathered before a valid Despite his obvious empathy for Blacks hypothesis can be formulated. there are still unexplained lapses, ambiguities Our third and final source of information is which seem to suggest an ambivalence The Diary of Jacob Engelbrecht (1818-1878). towards Blacks in certain circumstances. On The three volume edition of the diary edited several occasions Englebrecht came forward by Prof. William R. Quynn provides a plethora as a witness to corroborate that this or that of everyday events in Frederick during six Black individual was indeed a free person. decades. Many of the events which Engel- Yet, though he frequently refers to Blacks as brecht noticed or participated in also had "Negroes" or "Colored friends" later in the relevance for Black history. For example in diary — and here the editor is perhaps at fault December 5,1820, he wrote in his diary a list 28 — one finds references to "Darky." Also in of various Blacks who lived in Frederick 1823 after observing the public whipping of a Town. This list documents who owned black man convicted of theft Englebrecht's slaves:25 S almost gleeful remark on the punishment: Schley Jacob Livers Steiners Moses Graham "His dose consisted of 25 pills which were & Philip Mercer S administered by Dr. Jacob Myers Constable Bradley Tyler Daniel Anderson Shrivers 29 Abraham Brightwell 'Honesty is the best policy' " contrasts stran- HelfensteinS William Brown Bealls Robert gely with the empathy displayed elsewhere. S Magruder Taney Equally anomalous is Engelbrecht's lack of Romico Price & Cyrus Jenkins MurdockS Wm. Warfield RossS comment on an event that occurred in Febru- Frederick Hillman PottsS Cornelius Thompson ary 1826. Jacob C. Nicholson, a resident of Here as elsewhere in his diary Engelbrecht's Frederick, punished one of his Black inden- comments are objective and devoid of editor- tured servants, a certain James Toogood age ializing. Occasionally, however, his true feel- seven, by incarcerating him overnight in a ings do rise to the surface. cold closet. Because he was naked, except for On October 19,1822, at 9:00 AM he wrote a shirt, Toogood's legs and feet froze and he

[ 29 ] died eight days later. An inquest was held in brecht describes how a free Black named Frederick Court and after almost ten hours of Thomas Jackson, formerly owned by Ritchie deliberation Nicolson and his wife, who had of Frederick, spoke at the Lutheran church on been tried as an accessory, were both found his experiences in Maryland's African colony not guilty of manslaughter. Other than since 1831. Still the objective observer, Engle- recording the facts, Engelbrecht voiced no brecht remarked on Jackson:" he will find it opinions. difficult, to get those of his own Color, to Similarly, throughout his diary there are believe his Statements, too many of them have many references to events among Frederick's no faith in the Colonization Scheme."31 But free Black community: church events, activi- where does our diarist stand? The answer is ties of various Black organizations such as the silence until April 18,1853 where we find the masons and beneficial societies, and mar- note that "Cornelius Campbell (of Robt) & riages or deaths in the community. Yet, two wife Mary Thomas. Ford & wife Rebecca events that had the greatest impact on free Thom Smith all colored" were leaving that Blacks during the Antebellum period receive afternoon to sail for Liberia. only cursory attention from Engelbrecht. The ambivalence and contradictions which Those events were the urban riots and the we have found in the diary of Jacob Engel- activities of the American Colonization brecht are typical of the entire development Society. On August 14, 1835, for example, it of Afro-German relations since the German- was reported:30 town Protest. During the almost two centuries They had a kind of mob in Baltimore last week between the formulation of the protest and — about the "Poultney Bank" business — it the outbreak of the Civil War it is not possible happened between 7. & 10. of this month.& on to refer to Germans as an ethnic group united Monday or tuesday night, they had a small by commonalities of language, religion, and Spree in Washington, about the "Nigg" busi- custom. Similarly, it is impossible to comment ness Torn down Several black school houses on Afro-German relations as group interac- & burnt a black Church & c. tions; instead we find a myriad of individual The "'Nigg' business" is a reference in this case to the infamous "Snowhill Riot" of 1835 responses in which numerous discrepancies which sough to destroy the advances made by and contradiction are present. The response free Blacks in Washington, D.C. through wan- of German-speaking individuals of the first ton destruction of property and random vio- migration to the African presence varied from lence directed at individuals. Englebrecht's group to group. comments are remarkably casual. Wealth and standing were an important Just as casual are his references to the factor in so far as only wealthy and socially organization of a branch of the Colonization prominent members of the Lutheran and Society of Friedrick. Although an auxiliary Reformed churches could afford to own was organized there in 1831, as early as August slaves. Moravians, however, bought slaves 13,1825 Engelbrecht reported being present and made them indentured servants with at a lecture given in Frederick's German results such as we have seen. The pietistic Reformed Church by Rev. Ralph R. Gurley, groups such as Dunkards, Amish, and agent of the American Colonization Society. Brethren have no documentable evidence of Lectures given ten days later by Gurley and a stand on slavery and their preference to Francis Scott Key at the church presumably shun worldly matters removes them from also dealt with the program for returning free consideration on this issue. Given our current Blacks to Africa but Englebrecht was more information we can only conclude that Afro- concerned with Key's excessively long speech German relations before the Civil War in the than with its content. older German settlement areas can only be The only interesting note which is offered fully understood if we divorce ourselves from on the entire colonization scheme is found in the ideology imposed by an incorrect inter- the September 21,1838 entry in which Engel- pretation of the Germantown Protest. The

[ 30 ] Protest was the laudable result of a few con- well. Their descendants and successors have scientious individuals who were able to wed not always been able to measure up to their self-interest and a humanitarian concern for achievement. a subjugated race. In the process they were able to overcome an ethnocentrism which — Leroy T. Hopkins affected not only their time but themselves as Millersville State University

NOTES 1cf. LaVern J. Rippley, The German Americans (Lanham: 19"Gideon Moore: Slaves, Freedom and Litigant," The University Press of America, 1984), 163f.; Dieter Cunz, The Penn Germania, l, No. 5 (May 1912), 365-368. Maryland Germans (Princeton U. Press, 1948), 284. 20Frederick S. Weiser (trans.), Maryland German Church 2Helen Tunnicliff Catterall (ed.), Judicial Cases concern- Records, Vol. 3: Monocacy Lutheran Congregation and ing American Slavery and the Negro, Vol. IV: Cases from the Evangelical Lutheran Church, Baptisms 1742-1779, Fred- Courts of New England, the Middle States, and the District of erick, Frederick County, 10. Columbia, 1926 edition repr. (New York: Negro Universi- 21ibid, 16. ties Press, 1968), 8. 22Pennsylvanische Berichte oder Sammlung wichtiger Nach- 3Joseph E. Illick, Colonial Pennsylvania: A History (New richten aus Natur-und Kirchen-Reich, 250, p. l, col. l f. York: Scribner, 1976), 63. Original text: Es ist mit grossem Jammer wahrgenommen 4Louisa M. Waddell (ed.), "The Germantown Protest," worden, daß die teutsche Nation sich nun auch gefallen Unity from Diversity (Harrisburg: Penna. Historical and läßt, in den unmenschlichen Handel des Negerkauffens Museum Commission, 1980), 36f. sich einzulassen, weil sie keine teutsche Serven mehr 5The historical record is not entirely clear but the haben können. assientos or trade monopolies were given to entrepre- 23Lathan A. Windley (ed.), Runaway Slave Advertise- neurs from many countries, including Germany. With the ments. A Documentary History from the 1730s to 1790, Vol. 2: ascendancy of Holland and England as sea powers the Maryland (Westport, CN: Greenwood Press, 1983), 399. entire transatlantic slave trade became the sole property 24Unpartheyische Lancaster Zeitung und Anzeigs-Nachrich- of one power. ten, Nr. 61, Mittwoch, den 1. Oktober 1787. 6Waddell, Germantown Protest. 25William R. Quynn (ed.), The Diary of Jacob Englebrecht, 7ibid. 1818-78 (Historical Society of Frederick County: 1976), 8ibid. Vol. I: 1818-32, p. 38. 9Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm (eds.), Deutsches Wörterbuch, 26ibid, 179. 6. Band: "L.M." (bearbeitet von Dr. Moriz Heyne)(Leip- 27ibid., Vol. Ill: 1858-78, p. 523. zig: S. Hirzel, 1885), Sp. 2472-2473. 28ibid., Vol. II: 1832-1858, p. 215 and p. 236. 10The Oxford English Dictionary, Vol. VI "L-M" and Vol. Es ist um billigen Preißund sehr billige VII "N-O" (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1933), p. 645 and Zahlungstermine zu Verkaufen p. 82, resp. Eine negerfrau und 2 schöne Kinder, 11Kenneth L. Carroll, "Maryland Quakers and Slavery," Ein Knabe und ein Mädchen, (alle gehörig in der Amts- in Quaker History, Vol. 72 (Spring 1983), No. 1, 41. stube nach einer Acte der Assembly registrirt). Die Frau 12The Friend. A Religious and Literary Journal 17, No. 16 ist ein Sclav auf ihre Lebzeit, die Kinder sind verbunden (March 13,1844), 125. zu stehen bis sie 28 Jahr alt sind, sie ist nur 25 Jahr alt, 13W. C. Reichel (trans.), A Register of the Members of the schickt sich in die Stadt oder aufs Land, sie kann sowohl Moravian Church . . . (Nazareth: 1873), 365. Deutsch als Englisch sprechen. Einige Art Getreide, 14J. Taylor Hamilton, A History of the Church known as the Flauer, Whisky oder andere Landes=Produktionen Moravian Church (Bethelhem: 1900), 50. werden nach dem Marketpreiß in Zahlung angeommen und 15Reichel, Register, 333. die Bedingungen dem Käufer erleichtert werden. Wer 16Kenneth G. Hamilton (ed.), The Bethelhem Diary, Vol. I: Lust hat sie und die Kinder zu kaufen, kan den Preiß und 1742-1744 (Bethelhem: Archives of the Morvian Church, die Zahlungstermine erfahren bey dem Endsbenannten 1971), 105f. wohnhaft bey dem Courthaus in Lancaster 17in Samuel Pennypacker, "The Settlement of German- Salomon Etting town," Pennsylvania Magazine IV (1880), 25f. N.B. Sie wolle über an einen Deutschen Bauer der nicht 18John Casper Stoever, Early Lutheran Baptism and Mar- zu weit von Lancaster wohnt, verkauft seyn riages in Southeastern Pennsylvania (Baltimore: Genealogi- 29ibid.,VoI.I,p.220. cal Publ., 1982), 5. 30ibid.,Vo\. II, p. 171. 31ibid., p. 317.

[ 31 ]

THE ROLE OF GERMAN-AMERICAN SOCIAL GROUPS IN THE ASSIMILATION OF GERMAN IMMIGRANTS

In reviewing the second edition of his epoch- thirties and forties were rife with plans for making book, The Uprooted: The Epic Story of the mass immigration and colonization, but de- Great Migrations that Made the American People,1 spite the publicity surrounding such ventures, Oscar Handlin adds a chapter which reviews they generally elicited little favorable popular his initial difficulties in assessing the impact response and had almost no practical effect of immigration on the average individual as on the nature of immigration.2 The move to well as the critical reception of his ideas since American during this era of greatest influx their first articulation. As he notes, it is prob- was for its entire duration largely a personal lematic at best to attempt a divination of the act The individual, joined at times by reactions of a non-literary class of people. members of his immediate family, reached Moreover, the scholarly community resists his conclusion to emigrate privately and set any tendency to generalize — to approximate off on his journey alone. an average experience out of a broad spec- Naturally many external forces occasioned tram of specific instances. Yet any under- such a decision. Economic exigencies were standing of persons with little time or inclina- almost inevitably a factor in the desire to relo- tion to chronicle their lives must be drawn cate, and whether or not one elected to depart from indirect reports. for America was doubtless determined in part Handlin's observations certainly hold for by his attitude toward that distant land. the German-American experience. German Although there seems to be no solid evidence immigration into the United States — espe- to point up one specific image of America and cially during the nineteenth century — is dif- its possible relationship to an individual's ficult to define. Many of its distinguishing decision to emigrate, the European concep- characteristics are necessarily defined by the tion of the distant American continent seems reactions of the individuals involved, and any to have played a definite role in influencing attempt to delineate accurately the nature of many a potential emigrant.3 Which one of the the phenomenon must gauge and equitably several available concepts of America might distill thousands of uniquely personal expe- have proven most attractive to an individual riences into an adequate representation of emigrant is often impossible to determine. As what the German-American immigration the decision to emigrate was largely a per- "was." Such an undertaking is continually sonal one, it is likely that separate elements of frustrated by the elusiveness of the evidence, the popular image may well have appealed to by its unwillingness to conform to a well- different individuals in varying degrees. defined pattern. Other causes contributed as well to the migra- Immigration to the United States from tory urge. But in the end, emigration was a Germany during the nineteenth and early profoundly personal reaction to a specific set twentieth centuries shows little consistency of of outside influences, and for the majority of character. It was by nature emphatically com- the individuals and families involved, it was a plex. Large numbers of people came, and as a lonely undertaking. Many times travelers had whole, they were a motley throng — friends in America whom they hoped to con- considerably more heterogenous than their tact and from whom they thought to receive predecessors. Although members of a family some aid in adjusting to the strange situation. frequently traveled together, at least early in Yet increasingly Germans were settling in the the period, the individual family was not likely West, and the journey from a port of entry to to be a part of a larger, group movement. The an acquaintance and potential assistance was

[ 33 ] itself a lengthy and toilsome, cross-country or the feelings of inevitable change in the air in upriver trek. In all, the difficult, and often nineteenth-century Europe. Although an frightening, task of relocation had to be individual' conscious motives were invariably accomplished alone. dependent upon many only vaguely scrollable A more sanguine view of the American con- factors, those who emigrated in general did so tinent, improved physical conditions, reduced in the hope of maintaining their customary hardships, and cheaper, more efficient intra- way of life. The act may have been extreme6 European and transatlantic transportation — certainly not an option chosen by everyone combined to increase the flow of travelers in similar circumstances — but the motivation westward across the ocean. In the course of behind it was decidedly conservative. Emi- the century millions entered as immigrants. grants were an anxious group, disturbed by Eighteen fifty-four and 1882 were the peak the uncertainty and insecurity of the age.7 years of German immigration, and in each of They felt threatened by new land policies and those years alone about a quarter of a million the movement toward a money economy, emigrants from German-speaking countries both public and private.8 For the peasant entered the United States.4 They were more these developments meant more taxes, less numerous, they arrived with greater fre- acreage, and the loss of his sons' labor quency, and they traveled more independ- through conscription; the artisan saw the for- ently than their predecessors. Moreover, bidding omens of change in a shrinking increasingly throughout the period, immi- clientele. Both sought in emigration a means grants were drawn from a broader geographi- of escaping an uncertain future and ensuring cal area. In a politically atomized region such the continued integrity of life as they knew it. as the Germany of the time, this necessarily It remained for the nineteenth-century meant an intensification of the diversified immigrant to realize his vision of a secure character of German immigration which was future, and America seemed to offer the already apparent in the growing tendency to immigrant a haven from abrupt and unwel- emigrate as individuals or in very intimate come fluctuations in the normal pattern of and discreet family units. And precisely life.9 Yet in working toward that end he was because Germans leaving home for America suddenly confronted with the fact of his soli- in the nineteenth century were no longer tude. His mental and physical welfare inclined toward group endeavor as their demanded a sense of identity and a sense of counterparts in previous centuries had been, purpose in a community of his fellows.10 Thus they encountered in immigration psychologi- the nineteenth-century German immigrant, cal adversity despite an improving material having most likely made the transatlantic situation. crossing by himself or with his immediate Because he traveled essentially alone, the family, actively sought companionship and nineteenth-century immigrant did not bring association with others upon disembarkation with him an effective sense of group identity. in order to achieve the community of interests Consequently deprived of a familiar social essential to the preservation of his personal and cultural context in which to function, he and psychological well-being and to recreate usually experienced feelings of isolation and the familiar institutions that had constituted alienation. He had no fellows with whom to the context within which he had formerly commiserate, few colleagues in his efforts to functioned from day to day. adjust, and little real sense of personal or The broad geographical base and individu- communal identity. alistic character of emigration during the In his book, Germany and the Emigration, period did not, however, produce the reli- 1816-1885? Mack Walker has determined that gious affinities and natural compatibility those who left home came largely from the which had been such distinct features of the middle class, an extremely vulnerable class previous era of emigration. A common lan- economically and a group keenly sensitive to guage and vaguely similar national origins, as [ 34 ] well as the need for group identity, often tism, the maintenance of the status quo and provided the only basis for the cultivation of a the perpetuation of standing institutions with potential relationship among German immi- no precipitous innovations, was a guiding grants during the nineteenth century.11 Row- principle for almost every immigrant, and its land Berthoff depicts the situation in many essence ruled each of his communal localities: "The strongest bond among the endeavors. members of a local ethnic group was the con- A number of investigators have remarked sciousness of what they were not. Surrounded upon the conservatism of most German- by other kinds of people, the Irishman, Nor- Americans as well as the provincial nature of wegian, or Yankee began to turn what had the society they built16 Yet very few have taken been a neutral circumstance, the customary sufficient notice of this. rather distinctive common culture which everyone in his own characteristic of German-American society community had taken for granted, into an and fewer still have undertaken to explain its exclusive principle of self-identification."12 existence. The following quotations are two Thus it happened that German-Americans examples of the incomplete attempts to find living in loose-knit, rather random enclaves an adequate explanation of German-Ameri- quickly gained a heightened awareness of can conservatism: their common ethnic and cultural heritage. Because the Germans were unable to respect The atomization of nineteenth-century Amer- or, sometimes, to understand the social habits ican life, which frequently disturbed even the and standards of culture of their American 13 neighbors, particularly in the newly devel- native-born, ran very much counter to the oped regions, they sought to preserve as expectations of most immigrants. Although much as possible their old world habits and he desired the freedom to pursue his liveli- culture (Hawgood, p.41). hood as he saw fit, the individual emigrant Considerations of language, the physical continued to define his social identity and concentration of the urban community, and a moral worth in terms of his membership in a natural submission to their political and reli- group.14 In his adopted country he sought the gious leaders led these Europeans to repro- duce the domestic, religious, and educational right to sustain his association with a group practices of the Fatherland in the New World which would provide the framework within (Still, p. 80). which he might realize his first goal in emigra- In a short time the church again became the tion — the preservation of a former way of center of community life. In fact, it ultimately life. As it developed, then, German-American played a vital part in supplying many of the society was a product of the interaction non-religious needs of its members, for there between the physical and emotional require- grew up about each German-American con- ments of the immigrant and prevailing social gregation a considerable number of lay conditions in the United States. organization which provided the population In Europe the life of an individual had with a wide variety of services. From mutual 15 been whole and integrated, and the church aid societies, volunteer fire companies, and had often been the nucleus about which most cooperative insurance agencies to glee clubs, community life had revolved. Soon after arri- Turnvereine [gymnastic unions], and secret val most immigrants, regardless of faith, rou- lodges, the broad range of immigrant associa- tinely acted to restore the traditional nature of tions always drew attention to the clannish- their denomination in the hope that it might ness of the newcomer, particularly the remain a compelling force for personal disci- German-American.17 To the immigrant, how- pline and doctrinal conviction among the ever, membership in such groups provided faithful. The majority saw in the perpetuation fellowship in a time of stress. Emigration of familiar religious forms a very attractive interrupted the regularity of life, and the and highly serviceable vehicle for the re- strange American environment seemed to establishment of group life and, subse- militate against the full restoration of the con- quently, a sense of group identity. Conserva- ventional order. Union with one's comrades

[ 35 ] — be it serious and practical or frivolous and tion of factories; children under fourteen fraternal — was an attempt to duplicate the cannot work, no more sales of public lands to sense of community the immigrant had individuals or corporations, except under known at home. In the midst of the apparent very special conditions for improvement of chaos of American life, the ethic group pro- the land; and mandatory and free public vided a person with standards of behavior education.19 and moral sanctions imported from the Some organizations, however, did call for homeland as it simultaneously established a changes which might be considered suspi- well-defined position for him in his adopted ciously socialistic by many even today. The society. "Platform of the Radicals",20 which was drawn Inspection shows that there was not, in fact, up at a meeting of radical thinkers in Phila- an irreconcilable disparity between the more delphia in 1876, included many of the moderate views of the majority of the demands listed by Hoehn, but it incorporated German-American public and the liberal tend- as well calls for the elimination of all indirect encies of a decidedly smaller segment of the taxes, the dismantling of all monopolies, and population. Undeniably, a very vocal and the introduction of progressive income and highly visible radical or lunatic fringe did inheritance taxes with no taxes on income at exist. Indeed the actions of a few short- or below a level necessary for adequate sup- sighted, potential world reformers at the Chi- port of a family. but even in the first flush of cago Haymarket bombing and subsequent enthusiasm prior to 1860 the goals of many riot in 1886 did much to politicize and finally groups which styled themselves socialistic, discredit the activities of progressive thinkers communistic, or atheistic frequently revealed of all persuasions, but the predominant nothing more dangerous or radical than a majority of those German-Americans who deep belief and trust in man and nature and called themselves free-thinkers or even the characteristic freedom inherent in both. socialists rarely espoused principles more Amidst the many specific demands incor- radical than the three-part motto of the porated into the platforms and constitutions French Revolution: liberty; equality; and of the various liberal organizations there brotherhood.18 Organizations, such as the seems always to be an undertone which North American Turner Union which were betrays a general striving towards a type of founded directly after the abortive revolu- Humanitätsideal. Heinrich Metzner22 records tions of 1848 by expatriates who were anxious the goals of the Gymnastic Union formulated to realize the aims of those European upris- more or less specifically with the statement: ings on American soil, did profess ideals '"social, political, and religious reform' are which might be considered vaguely socialistic the watchwords of our organization." Yet the even today. William Kamman, says simply: group eschews any specific recommendations "Many of the principles advocated by the and seeks to be a clearinghouse for all liberal North American Gymnastic Union are now ideas. The guiding philosophy behind all its generally considered socialistic. They oppose, actions is then revealed a few paragraphs for example, the extreme concentration of later (p. 203): wealth, and political power in the hands of a We have learned to separate the natural laws few, the exploitation of labor by capital, and in their purity from those artificial laws so they defend the rights of the individual" offensive to reason through which hypocriti- cal priests and blind fanatics defame the good (Socialism in German-American Literature, 63, c.f. name of morality.... We believe in that pro- note 3). Of course, many of the ideas consi- foundly beautiful, truly human philosophy of dered progressive or even radical at the time life, according to which body and spirit con- are today all but self-understood. G. A. Hoehn tribute equally to the quest for perfection in lists a number of the changes demanded by human endeavor and true humanity consists in the harmony of body and spirit, in the the North American Turner Union. Among them complementary interaction of a spirituality are: an eight-hour day; governmental inspec- which seeks the sublime and a healthy but

[ 36 ] restrained sensuality governed by modera- tually with an edifying talk on the latest scien- 22 tion. tific discoveries, taxing the rich, the moral Socialism seems in any case to have meant character of a life patterned after nature different things to different people. In prac- rather than religion, or perhaps the beauty of tice, the various groups frequently stood for literature and the arts. The primary concern whatever ideas were thought to be progressive of any speaker's audience was, however, more at a given time, and there was confusion in the likely to be the liquid and solid refreshments minds of many as to the principles for which which were scheduled to conclude the eve- each faction stood. Indeed, the ideals ning's festivities rather than the speech itself. espoused by one organization usually over- lapped with those defended by yet another, Many of the buildings in which such meetings resulting in a confusing array of goals and took place were mortgaged to brewery owners aims, the majority of which were shared by all. who extracted the privilege of maintaining a The confusion was exacerbated by the con- public house of the premises. Indeed the fre- stant attempts of the leaders of many factions quent complaints of the really serious adher- to vie for the support of the members of other ents of liberal philosophies lead one to con- factions. Wilhelm Weitling, whose own brand clude that for many the appeal of an evening of Handwerkerkommunismus [communism for at the Turnverein or Free Thought Society was the laborer] never held much appeal for men more of a social than of a scholarly nature. like Karl Heinzen who were more aristocra- A1908 article in a Detroit newspaper26 illus- tically and theoretically inclined, gives a most trates the popularity of beer in many German- incisive and memorable description of the American endeavors. In reviewing the first situation as it existed in 1850: years of a German theater group which had Everyone wants to publish a newspaper, every- prospered in the city in the third quarter of one wants to preside over a club or found a the previous century. This the article informs mutual aid society, everyone wants to set off its readers that: on his own to be a spokesperson for some At first it was a small affair, the stage being faction or another. This one mixes decentral- located at the end of the bar room. This prox- ization with socialism, this one atheism with imity of mental and physical refreshment rationalism, yet a third is a socialistic gymnast, proved a happy combination __The refresh- the fourth is active in progressive affairs. One ment privilege constituted an important item in these early German theaters, John Deville, of them wants to form an organization for the who owned the ground on which the Thalia development of the spirit, the next one for society erected the theater, retaining the right humanity, the third for the people, the fourth to supply the wants of the inner man and for the working class, one wants to bring profiting materially thereby. singers into a group, another wants tailors, That similar arrangements were common another refugees, etc. And hundreds of others in other German-American cultural endea- want the same thing, but with a slight 23 vors seems confirmed by the fact that Karl variation. Knortz finds it necessary to include in his very After the Civil War much of the ardor which accurate summary of the decline of the Turn- had been born of the dream of actualizing 27 freedom from oppression in Europe was vereine toward the end of the last century the channelled into more directly American con- complaint that: cerns, such as homesteading and naturaliza- ... In addition there was the unfortunate 24 circumstance that most of the organizations tion, and socialistic rhetoric receded into the had established permanent taverns on their background. Many of the members of organi- premises and, as the tavern business consti- zations which called themselves liberal were tuted the major source of income, the leader- small businessmen, more concerned about ship tended to devote its attention primarily to making productive business contacts than that activity. Consequently, the bonds which refashioning the political system.25 The had been issued to build the organization's groups would meet, usually on a weekly basis, hall soon came into the possession of rich beer brewers, who naturally insisted that the to listen to a lecturer whose purpose it was to gymnastic unions do things their way. educate the assembly spiritually and intellec- [ 37] Knortz' complaint indicates the seriousness has usually been assumed.28 The measure of of the problem, and the scattered comments of cohesiveness which such a union of individu- various speakers, reviewers, and historians als provided was probably more than any- dealing with freethought and other liberally- thing else responsible for the popularity and oriented groups indicate that the member- variety of German-American societies, for like ship was not always made up of persons the church, the middle-class lay organizations whose primary interest was the serious pursuit became a sort of German-American cultural of the ideas professed at such meetings. In phenomenon, providing a sense of identity fact, the lack of seriousness on the part of and a source of companionship amidst the some supporters is frequently cited as the rea- rather unsettling struggle every immigrant son for the limited success of such groups. endured in his attempt to preserve a sem- Thus even organizations which bore the blance of the life he had left behind as he word "socialistic" in their name, as well as established himself in his adopted homeland. many other German-American groups dubbed liberal by the public at large, probably served — Randall Donaldson a much more broadly cultural function than Loyola College in Maryland

NOTES 1 The Uprooted: The Epic Story of the Great Migrations that those years. Albert Faust, The German Element in the United Made the American People, second edition, rev. (Boston: States (New York: Steuben Society of America, 1927), 1,588, Little, Brown, Co., 1973). puts the number at 215,009 for 1854 and marks 1882 as a 2Marcus Hansen [The Atlantic Migration 1607-1860 banner year with 250,630 (p. 586). William Kamman, (Cambridge, MS: Harvard Univ. Press, 1940)] continually Socialism in German-American Literature (Philadelphia: stresses the individualistic nature of nineteenth-century Americana Germanica Press, 1917), p. 10, also finds 1882 immigration. Yet he seems unwilling to dismiss com- the high water mark with a figure of 250,630, but his pletely arguments which credit group attempts at coloni- figure might well have been taken from Faust, who cites zation with some degree of success. However, Hansen's, no source for his information. and particularly John Hawgood's, [ The Tragedy of German- 5Germany and the Emigration: 1816-1885 (Cambridge, America: The Germans in the United States of America Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1964). during the Nineteenth Century — and After (New York: 6Walker describes a scene on the roads in southern G. P. Putnam, 1940)] efforts to ascribe a measure of suc- Germany in 1832 where "travelers to Hambach mingled cess to group attempts at colonization seem largely with growing numbers of Auswanderer [emigrants] going overdrawn. beyond, to America. They differed in one important way: 3The variety of points of view on the character of the Auswanderer had no faith in Germany's future, or at America is perhaps most evident in Harold Jantz' very least no faith in their places in it. Those who journeyed to thorough article, "Amerika in deutschen Dichten und Hambach did have plans or hopes for Germany's future Denken," in Deutsche Philologie im Aufriß, ed. Wolfgang and saw themselves as part of it. But taxes and princes, Stammler, 2nd ed., III (Berlin: Erich Schmidt Verlag, dislocation and frustration lay behind both; very often 1962), 309-72. Moreover Paul Weber, America in Imagina- they were the same taxes and the same princes" (Germany tive German Literature in the First Half of the 19th Century and the Emigration, p. 65). (New York: Columbia University Press, 1926), also dis- 7In seeking the external factors which influenced emi- cusses the question solely from the perspective of the gration, Walker examines vital statistics and finds: "Once imaginative literature of the day. more it is insecurity, instability, and violence of statistical 4Statistics on the subject of emigration or immigration ups and downs, rather than constant low or high position, are difficult to determine. Frequently records are incom- that accompany the Auswanderung [emigration]. Vital plete, at times the method of reporting changes, distort- statistics reflect basic parts of the patterns of human lives, ing the statistical basis for all previous estimates, and and their violent fluctuation reflects disruptions of the German and American figures often differ substantially. patterns" (Germany and the Emigration, p. 57). Moreover, statistics of this kind were at times biased 8Walker (Germany and the Emigration, p. 157) lists the because it was politically expedient to either over- or "long term stimuli to Auswanderung [emigration]" as: underestimate the number of persons entering or leaving "land fragmentation, the decline of the handicrafts, and a specific country at a specific time. Most researchers feel, the movement to a money economy, public and private." however, that 1854 and 1882 are the peak years of Ger- 9The present study cannot offer an appropriate forum man immigration. Walker, as usual the most cautious and for detailed discussion of the social structure of very likely the most reliable investigator, estimates about nineteenth-century German-America. Historians have a quarter of a million German immigrants in each of only in recent decades begun a reassessment of the sig-

[ 38 ] nificance of social history as a key to the deeper under- immigrants for their homelands, led them to cherish old standing of past events, and the implications of this new loyalties, and drove them in upon themselves. The most perspective have yet to be fully explored. Recognition of obvious expression of immigrant yearnings for the famil- the pertinence of social history to a consideration of iar was the tendency to congregate in distinct areas.... immigrant communities can, however, help sweep away What determined the nature of immigrant groupings was some of the more antiquated and unsatisfactory explana- not national feeling, for in Europe immigrants had been tions of the substance of German-American society and hardly aware of their nationality. To most, local and establish the importance of the solitary nature of regional affiliation were more important." In practice, an nineteenth-century German immigration as a formative immigrant would most likely seek out friends or relatives influence upon that phenomenon. Rowland Berthoff already in the country. Letters home from successful has done much to elucidate the relevance of the progres- settlers frequently urged others to follow; perhaps the sively unsettled structure of American social institutions new arrival could prevail upon the hospitality of an old to growing feelings of anxiety and uncertainty which lay acquaintance until he was acclimated to the new land. at the base of many political movements after 1820. His Failing that, most immigrants were usually informed as to book, An Unsettled People: Social Order and Disorder in the location of settlements of their compatriots, where American History (New York: Harper and Row, 1971), they could solicit the aid of those already established in attempts to authenticate the social interpretation of his- making the initial adjustments. tory as a necessary complement to political and economic 12An Unsettled People, p. 225. expositions of the subject. However, a great deal of preli- 13Rowland Berthoff notes (An Unsettled People, p. 372) that minary work would have to be done before an adequate despite the fact that most Americans had an inbred sense analysis of the social institutions of the Germans in the of respect for the much-vaunted principle of self- United States could be undertaken. Perhaps an investi- reliance, many nonetheless felt "caught in a modern web gation of various German immigrant communities sim- of rapid economic growth, social individualism and ilar to Mack Walker's German Home Towns: Community, instability, and anxious reaction" (x) and that it would State, and General Estate, 1648-1871 (Ithaca, New York: seem that "the anxieties which historians have recently Cornell University Press, 1971) would yield significant detected at the root of various political movements after results. Certainly there are many questions still to be 1820 evidently had something to do with the uncertainty answered by such a study. For instance, Marcus Hansen of a society which lacked an accepted pattern of recipro- undertook (The Emigrant, pp. 23-4) an examination of cal rights and duties among well-founded classes. They three relatively similar German settlements in Rio de also had something to do with the dissolution of other old Janeiro, New South Wales, and Missouri which seemed to social patterns — the functionally integrated family, show that the German immigrants in Missouri were more community, and parish church of an earlier day—which readily assimilated into the native society than their coun- Americans had not specifically intended to discard along trymen elsewhere. Hansen could find no apparent rea- with the old class distinctions" (xii). son for the difference, and even today there is no satisfac- 14The community life an individual had known in tory explanation of the situation. As the field is already Europe had been characterized by a fixed configuration cluttered with apologetic accounts of the German immi- of reciprocal privileges and obligations. As Oscar Hand- grant experience and chauvinistic renditions of basically lin describes the situation on page 221 of "Historical political events which highlight only the exploits of the Perspectives on the American Ethnic Group," Daedalus successful and the notorious, the task is considerably 90 (Spring 1961), 220-32: "The communities the emigrants more involved than it might be were a competent political left had been whole and integrated, and had compre- and economic history of German-America already in hended the total life of their members . . ., and the existence. individual was therefore located in a precise place that 10Robert E. Park and Herbert A. Miller discuss many of defined the whole range of his associations." Many times, the problems of immigration in Old World Traits Trans- in fact, it was true that the immigrant to the United States planted (New York: Harper Brothers, 1921). The authors had left his homeland precisely because established pat- treat at length the potential for demoralization inherent terns of behavior were being altered by changing social in the process of relocation and state that if the individual and economic conditions. Yet America in the eighteenth immigrant is unable to adopt new habits and standards to and nineteenth centuries was a country where, as Hand- meet the situation, he will become depressed (p. 61). They lin sees it (p. 222), "uninterrupted territorial expansion suggest that "it is only in an organized group __ where he was the most consequential element in the situation" and is a power and an influence, in some region where he has "... almost everywhere the concomitant was a spatial and status and represents something that man can maintain a social mobility that exerted a continued strain upon exist- stable personality" (p. 287). ing organizations and habitual modes of behavior." The 11Maldwyn Jones, American Immigration (Chicago: The newly-arrived immigrant was often confused and dis- University of Chicago Press, 1969), pp. 134-35, says: "The heartened, for, as Rowland Berthoff explains (An persistence of feelings of alienation and isolation could Unsettled People, p. 371), "whatever he had heard of Ameri- not but stimulate in each ethnic group an awareness of its can freedom and opportunity, he (the immigrant) had identity. The strange and often hostile environment in not anticipated that so many familiar elements of old- which they found themselves sharpened the nostalgia of country society would be missing. In an American city he

[ 39 ] could preserve only fragments of the sort of parish, vil- played a tendency to band into societies, preferably with lage, or family life that he was used to. ... His ethnic bombastic or lurid names or with a military flair." neighborhood' had little more cohesion or tradition than 18In 1876 Roben Reitzel delivered the keynote speech could be mustered by fraternal lodges and other volun- to an assemblage of free thinkers gathered in Philadel- tary associations on the American plan. . . . But these phia to celebrate the anniversary of the Independent struggling versions of old-country social institutions Congregation of Philadelphia. In his remarks, he himself could at least do what they had been doing ever since the uses the words quoted to express the goals of the organi- 1820's: reassure the individual of his social identity and zation (Geschichtliche Mittheilungen über die deutschen Freien moral worth as a member of some collective entity more Gemeinden von Nordamerika p. 71.): "Die Befreiung von der coherent and less confusing than the atomistic society at Religion... ist allerdings die Grundlage und der wichtige large." Factor alles Fortschritts, unser Endziel aber ist der Cul- 15In addition to the "spatial and social mobility" (see turstaat, d.h., die wahre Republik, in der sich endlich note 14 above) which Oscar Handlin finds so characteris- einmal das goldene Motto der französischen Revolution: tic of nineteenth-century America, he also lists ("Histori- 'Freiheit, Gleichheit und Brüderlichkeit' verwirklichen cal Perspectives," p. 222 ff.) a number of further reasons soll." 19 forthe inability of most European immigrants to reestab- Der Nordamerikanische Turnerbund und seine Stellung lish the type of integrated community life they had known zur Arbeiter-Bewegung (St. Louis, Missouri: 1892), 4. 20 at home. Among these are the looseness of American discussed by C. F. Huch in "Die Konventionen der institutional forms and the heterogeneity of the Ameri- Freigesinnten im Jahre 1876," Mitteilungen des Deutschen can population. In an attempt to locate himself in his new Pionier-Vereins von Philadelphia, 23 (1911), p. 9 ff. 21 situation, an immigrant of any nationality customarily Jahrbücher der deutsch-amerikanischen Tumerei (New engaged in some form of associationalism. For a more York: 1892-94), p. 202. 22 detailed discussion of this topic see Arthur M. Schlesin- Karl Knortz in a pamphlet on the necessity for organ- ger, "Biography of a Nation of Joiners," American Histori- izing liberal-minded men entitled Die Notwendigkeit einer cal Review 50, No. 1 (October 1944), 1-25. As the need for Organization derFreidenker(Milwaukee, Wisconsin: Verlag association with a group usually had physical as well as des Bundes-Vororts, 1910), p. 5, continues in a similar vein psychological aspects, one must ultimately look to the on the duty of every free thinker: "In diesem Sinne entire complex of associations in which the immigrant [Ciceros] ist nun ein religiöser jeder Freidenker ein was involved, but chief among the affiliations which con- Mensch: seine Gottliebe ist, wie Feuerbach sagt, Men- tinued to determine one's social context was the church. schenliebe, und er hält daher die Morallehre für die Frequently community and congregation were syn- erhabenste und edelste, welche die übelwollenden, onymous, and the church was a decisive influence in egoistischen Neigungen beschränke und das Wohl der many facets of existence extending far beyond the realm Allgemeinheit befördert." of basic religious beliefs. In most cases it provided a focal Finally, Carl Friedrich Huch sums up the deliberations point for almost all community activity. and activities of a convention of freethinkers in 1876 with the words ("Die Konventionen der Freigesinnten im 16Hawgood, The Tragedy of German-America: The Germans Jahre 1876," p. 4): "Das Buch der Natur und Geschichte ist in the United States of America during the Nineteenth Century die alleinige Quelle, aus welcher die Vernunft alles not- — and After (New York: G. P. Putnam, 1940), p. 41; Jones, wendige und nützliche und das Menschenleben vere- American Immigration, p. 230; Carl Wittke, We Who Built delnde und verschönernde Wissen und Können, alle America: The Saga of the Immigrant, 2nd ed. (Cleveland, Sitten- und Staatsgesetze und gesellschaftlichen Einrich- Ohio: Press of Western Reserve University, 1964), pp. tungen schöpft... Das allseitige liebliche, geistliche and 284-85; Bayrd Still, Milwaukee, the History of a City (Madi- gemütliche Wohlbefinden, die irdische Glückseligkeit ist son, Wisconsin: The State Historical Society of Wiscon- unser höchstes Gut." sin, 1948), p. 80; Hansen, The Emigrant, p. 140; and Emil 23"Republik der Arbeiter," 1850, p. 180 ff., as quoted by Meynen, Bibliography on German Settlements in Colonial Kamman, Socialism in German-American Literature, p. 20. North America, Especially on the Pennsylvania Germans and [translation my own] their Descendants 1683-1933 (Leipzig: Otto Harrassowitz, 24The fundamental principles of the Arbeiterkongreß 1937), xii. [workers' union] formulated in convention in 1850 17 Of course, immigrant associations were a pheno- included even then: "Freigebung der öffentlichen Län- menon in every ethnic group, for such organizations dereien in bestimmten Quantitäten an wirkliche were often an important part of an individual's adjust- Bebauer; Sicherung der Heimstätte gegen erzwungenen ment to his adopted country. However, the Germans Verkauf; die Erlangung des Bürgerrechtes für Einwan- seem many times to have been at least more conspicuous dererdarf von keiner Zeitbestimmung abhängig gemacht in their clannishness. Forster, Zion on the Mississippi, p. werden; Beschränkung des Bodenbesitzes; hohe Be- 258, documents at least one situation, in St. Louis, where steuerung aller verkauften, jedoch unbebaut liegenden the Germans were thought to be making "improper Ländereien; Schutz der Einwanderer gegen Prelleremien attempts" at cultural isolation. Forster blames the durch Spekulanten und Makler" [as quoted in: C. F. Vereinsmeierei [clannishness] of the group for much of its Huch, "Die Anfange der Arbeiterbewegung unter den trouble: "The Germans were joiners and everywhere dis- Deutschamerikanern," Mitteilungen des Deutschen Pionier-

[ 40 ] Vereins von Philadelphia, 17 (1910), p. 49.]. The majority of theil für ihr Geschäftchen zu erringen." Others sources immigrants tended to emphasize these and other specifi- too, particularly Kamman, reveal the problem in main- cally American concerns even more during the period taining truly socialistic principles which resulted from the following the Civil War. increasingly large proportion of members who were busi- 25In his keynote address at the Philadelphia conven- nessmen ardor for socialistic and communistic ideals had tion of free congregation (Geschichtliche Mittheilungen cooled considerably. über die deutschen Freien Gemeinden von Nordame- 26" Early German Drama in Detroit," Detroit Free Press, 16 rika, p. 97) Reitzel himself warns: "Natürlich, wer zu uns February 1908, pt. 4, p. 3, cols. 1-8. kommt, um einen Tummelplatz seiner persönlichen 27"Das Deutschtum in Vereinigten Staaten," in Eitelkeit zu finden, wer zu uns kommt, um materielle Sammlung gemeinverständlicher wissenschaftlicher Vorträge, Vortheile für sein Geschäft dabei zu finden, wer zu uns ed. Rudolph Virchow, NS12, Hfte. 281/2, 58. kommt um des gesellschaftlichen Vergnügens willen, der 28Hermann Schlüter in Die Anfänge der deutschen wird auch bald wieder gehen. Although expressed nega- Arbeiterbewegung in Amerika (Stuttgart: J. H. N. Dietz Nach- tively, as that which is undesirable, the sentiments make it folger, 1907), p. 214, discusses the confusion within the obvious that there were at least sufficient numbers drawn Gymnastic Union concerning the meaning or signifi- to free religion for precisely such reasons that Reitzel cance of word "sozialistisch," which appeared in early found it necessary to mention the problem. One's suspi- versions of the group's name: "DerSozialismus des ameri- cions are confirmed upon reading Heinrich Hoehn's kanischen Turnerbundes war mehr ein Name, als eine remarks in Der Nordamerikanische Tumerbund und seine Vertretung wirklich sozialistischer Princzipien. Eine Stellung zur Arbeiter-Bewegung, p. 1, about those who "erb- proletarische Organization ist diese Vereinigung nie licken im Turnverein einen gewöhnlichen Vergnügungs- gewesen, und was in ihr als Sozialismus zum Ausdruck Club" and those members who are "Produkte unseres kam, war ein Gemisch von bürgerlichem Radikalismus kapitalistischen Wirthschafts-Systems." He explains: "Ich und unklarem sozialistischem Streben, das mehr im meine jene Leute, welche sich nur einem Dutzend Gefühl, als in Einsicht und Erkenntnis seinen Ursprung Vereinen oder Vereinchen ansschließen, in der Hoff- hatte." nung, sich dabei Kunden zu erwerben resp. einen Vor-

[ 41 ]

FROM CAROLINA TO CONNECTICUT: GERMANS AND SWISS IN SEARCH OF GOLD AND SILVER, 1704-1740

This is not meant to be a treatise on early The vignettes which follow here might also mining in the colonies involving people from serve to illustrate the diversity or Swiss and German-speaking lands. It is rather a by- Germans who were drawn to the New Land in product of a comprehensive study of 18th- the early part of the 18th century. They seem a century immigration, pointing to some figures far cry from the still prevalent image of "Pala- of fact and fiction who might deserve a closer tines and Switzers" as droves of ill-used pea- look by students of colonial history. The fre- sants and persecuted sectarians. That some of quent references to mineral wealth, to the them were flawed in one way or another gold and silver the New Land was expected to should not come as a surprise in schemes yield, and with it the hope for quick riches did which involved dreams of instant riches. not pass unnoticed among adventurers, debt- ridded patricians, and mere tricksters in var- The Situation in Virginia and Maryland ious parts of the Empire and Switzerland. ... it is for Certain, there would be in a Short Among those whose names appear in the time very rich mines discovered, to the benefit of Great Britain as well as America, and the records of the colonies were remarkable men Spaniards might hang themselves for their who fit at least one of these characterizations. Money for the future. Frantz Ludwig Michel was an educated J. H. Sprögel to the Board of Trade adventurer, untrained for prospecting, and The common knowledge of the gold and might have believed that the minerals he had silver the Spaniards had found in their colo- found were indicative of considerable lodes. nies had raised hopes for similar discoveries Christopher von Graffenried was desperate in the the English colonies in America. enough to grab any chance to reverse his bad Indeed, the young Jamestown settlement fortune. Friedrick Redegelt, whoever he really briefly came under the spell of quick riches was, emerges as an outright fraud. Johann when William Hendrick Faldoe, the "Helve- Heinrich Sprögel was a transatlantic whizzer, tian" who had come to Virginia with German free of traditional scruples when business and Polish craftsmen in October 1609, seemed to require it, whose luck tended to run announced the discovery of a "silver-myne". out when he most needed it. He returned to England and was awarded an Dreams of silver and gold flowing from the eighteen-month contract to develop the mine. mining projects of Michel and Graffenried in When he came back to Virginia with Lord De the Carolinas and along the Potomac and la Warr, precious time and labor were wasted Shenandoah remained unfulfilled. There in the precarious infant colony in a futile was only one tangible result, albeit unex- search for the deposits. Faldoe was, however, pected and unplanned: the beginnings of spared the burden of proving his claim, for it Spotswood's iron works in Virginia. The "hath pleased god since that time, that the copper mine at Simsbury, Connecticut, was said Helvetian hath died of a burning-Fever, started as a solid business venture by mer- and with him the knowledge of that myne [he] chants in Amsterdam and New York. Ger- would not reveale unto any one ells of the mans were involved only as contracted Colony." As late as 1630 an expedition tried experts and mine workers. The discovery of again to find the silver deposits "discovered the Perkiomen copper deposits in Pennsyl- by a Dutchman," because not all Virginians vania has been credited to J. H. Sprögel's shared Captain John Smith's reasonable efforts to exploit and settle the Frankfurt Com- assessment that the Swiss was "a meere Impos- pany lands which he had acquired through a ter whose real name and background have much criticized legal maneuver in 1708. never been uncovered."1 [ 43 ] Almost a century went by before other Johann Wilhelm Petersen and his wife Elea- adventurers from German-speaking lands nora von Merlau near Magdeburg, who were made waves again with their promises and shareholders of the Frankfurt Company, he assurances of finding the long-sought min- was sent on his way. Petersen called him an eral wealth. The beleaguered proprietor of "arch-trickster." Despite attempts by the Prus- Pennsylvania, William Penn, was singularly sian civil and church authorities in Berlin and receptive. On March 16th, 1703/4 he issued a Magdeburg to have him apprehended, Rede- commission to "Colonel Friedrick Redegelt": gelt succeeded in selling more of his pre- Reposing speciall Confidence in Thy Conduct tended estates in Pennsylvania. A schoolmas- & Integrity, & being well satisfied of Thy Great Skill & Experience in the Discovering & Work- ter in Sudenburg near Magdeburg quit his job ing of Mines & Minerals, as well as in other after paying the "colonel" dollars in cash, only to find out in Holland that he had been Useful Inventions; I do hereby Constitute & 6 Appoint Thee, Friedrick Redegelt, to be Sey- duped. Hermann Groethausen, who pur- Master General of the aforesaid Province....2 chased 9,000 acres and went to England with his family, was clever enough to see Penn This "colonel," who also claimed to have before embarking. When he checked with the purchased 10,000 acres of land in Pennsylva- proprietor in December 1709, the hoax was nia, approached in London the scouts that exposed and he accepted Penn's offer of 500 had been sent out by an emigration society of acres instead.7 "Thereupon the scoundrel Langensalza, the High-German Company of vanished from sight," Petersen noted in his Thuringia, to look for a suitable place of set- memoirs, and with him William Penn's first tlement in America. On August 5, 1704, mining projects. Johann Heinrich Kürsten, a woolen draper from Langensalza bought sight unseen 750 Meanwhile there was some real explora- acres and Lorenz Christopher Nohren 200 tion underway along the Maryland and Penn- acres from "Colonel Frederick de Redegoldt" sylvania frontiers. In February 1707 the Pro- in London. Later, in Pennsylvania, both men vincial Council of Pennsylvania received a found out that their deeds, written in German, message that an expedition led by Frantz did "not appear Good."3 It is possible that Ludwig Michel was building cabins on the Redegeld tried to recruit people in Saxony "forks of the Potomac pretending they were in because on July 7,1706, Prince Elector August search of ore. Thirty-two-year-old Michel was expressly stated in an order that "also miners the adventurous son of a former member of were to be lured away.4 Three years later, in the Great Council of Bern. He had already July 1709, the British envoy in The Hague made a first exploratory trip to Virginia, Mary- passed on to London a petition of "chief mine land, and Pennsylvania in 1701/2. In 1703 he master" Joh. Joseph Kramer from "Vreyber- embarked again for America. This time he gen in Meissen" (Freiberg, the center of visited the Carolinas where he became Saxon silver mining) who asked for travel friends with John Lawson, an indefatigable explorer and future surveyor general of North assistance to the New Land for himself and 40 8 to 50 mine foremen and workers.5 Carolina. Lawson encouraged Michel's min- The first "Essay Master General of the Prov- eral search. In his book A New Voyage to Caro- ince of Pensilv'a and Terr's annexed, in lina, Lawson wrote: America," as Redegelt signed his tide on the As good if not better Mines than those of the deeds, remains shrouded in mystery. As Wil- Spaniards in America, lie full West from us; and I am certain, we have Mountainous Land, liam Penn's troubles in England increased, and as great Probability of having rich Miner- Redegelt felt obviously free to commit various als in Carolina, as any of those Parts that are frauds and lastly claimed to have found the already found to be so rich therein. tincture to make gold. By the time the authori- He also mentioned Michel's investigation ties began investigating his activities he had of ore deposits and welcomed the proposed left for Holland and Germany. When he settlement of Swiss by the Ritter Company of appeared at the home of the pietist pastor Bern, for which Michel served as scout.9 [ 44 ] After his extended visit of the Carolinas, the proprietors. As to the plans in Virginia, Michel moved north and explored the north- the Queen's approval was expressed in an ern part of the Shenandoah Valley and other Order of Council on August 22,1709: "that the areas along the Potomac. The decision was Governor of Virginia doe upon the said Peti- finally made in Bern to locate the Swiss col- tioners Arrival there, forthwith Allot unto ony "on the Hed of Potomack River and its them certain Lands on the South-west Branch branches." In May 1707 George Ritter him- of Potomac...."12 self sent a letter to the contact man in the At the same time they accepted 650 of the English government in which he expressed thousands of Germans stranded in London the hope "... if we find some minerals, iron, for a settlement scheme in North Carolina lead, tin, copper, etc., they shall belong to the where Graffenried was also to take the first discoverers," blissfully unaware of the con- contingent from Bern after Lawson and the cept of Royal Mines which governed English Carolina proprietors had succeeded in divert- policy at home as well as in the overseas plan- ing their intentions from the Virginia- tations.10 Maryland border area. After the numerous The first reaction at Court and at the Board contracts and agreements dealing with these of Trade was less than promising but the men- settlers were concluded, Michel and Graffen- tion of "frontier" and "minerals" created ried concentrated on their mining proposals. enough of an interest to keep the project alive. The proprietors of Carolina were the first to Although the Board of Trade had only a grant them certain privileges. The contract vague conception of the unexplored western was signed at Craven House on April 6,1710: regions, the representatives of the proprie- Agreed that the Baron de Graffenried and Mr tors, notably of Lady Fairfax and Lord Balti- Lewis Michel shall have a lease of all royal more, but even the embattled William Penn, mines and minerals in the Province of Carol- monitored western settlement schemes ina that they shall discover and work for the closely. Granting the land that Michel de- term of 30 years, they being at the entire charge. The produce of it to be divided into scribed clearly would have infringed on the eight parts whereof four eights are to be paid Fairfax proprietary, if not also on those con- to the Lord Proprietors the other four eights to flicting claims of the Maryland and Pennsyl- the said Baron de Graffenried and Mr Lewis vania proprietors. Michel for the term of 5 years after any such Mines shall be found and opened. But after Frantz Ludwig Michel returned to Europe the aforesd term of five years then the Lords late in 1708. His enthusiastic reports spurred to have five eights, the said Baron de Graffen- the Bernese on to renewed activity. In Lon- ried and Mr Lewis Michel three eights the don Michel was joined by Christopher von Lords being to pay the Crown the fourth part 13 Graffenried who had left Bern "in all quiet" according to the Words to the Charter. on May 13,1709, to escape serious pecuniary The negotiations with William Penn turned difficulties. Graffenried himself wrote enthu- out to be more involved. It was no secret that siastically of Michel's reports, "what fine rich the proprietor of Pennsylvania was desper- silver mines he had discovered and found," ately looking for a way out of his financial and "when I considered that I was burdened straits. In March 1709, he wrote to James with rather heavy debts;" the Bernese projects Logan in Philadelphia that Michel had visited must have looked attractive to him.11 In the him: "Pray Scruteny this matter well & let me London of 1709 Michel and Graffenried hear from thee with all the Speed thou canst; were caught up in the whirlpool of the largest for the assurance Michell gives me, makes me mass migration from the German Rhine- sollicitous to pry into that affair, whence help lands. Only their repeated emphasis on min- & reward may arrive to deliver me."14 He had eral discoveries and on strengthening the obviously not yet received the letter Logan frontier with orderly, small groups of "war- had addressed to him a few weeks erlier: like Switzers" opened for them the doors to "There is nothing yet certainly to discover the administration, the Board of Trade, and about the mines," and he added a warning [ 45 ] about Michel, ". . . for I fear Mitchell has the necessary tools. As it turned out, he was tricked us all."15 Penn's earlier dealings with not an ordinary chief miner but a crafty, first- the notorious Redegelt should also have class public-relations man. He traveled to made him more cautious. Graffenried later Siegen where the mining industry was in a recalled: "But if I had not been present at the depressed state and workers were looking for first negotiation, nothing would have come of jobs. He spent a considerable time to have it, and Mr. Penn would do and conclude mining implements made to order. He also nothing, unless it were signed by me."16 On contacted prospective workmen. His creden- June 14, 1710, Penn informed Lieutenant tials seemed impressive. Siegeners were awed Governor Charles Gookin: by this self-assured man who claimed to have Haveing made a Contract wth my friends been appointed to develop mines and smel- Lewis Mitchel & Baron Graffenried for the ters for gold, silver and other metals on behalf Discovering Opening & working certain of Her Majesty of Great Britain in the colonies Mines within the Bounds ofthat Province for wch I have Granted to the sd Mitchel my of Carolina, Virginia and Pennsylvania. In Commission w' Such full & ample Powers as order to create local good-will, Albrecht may be Necessary to Carry on the sd Work: I grandly signed a donation contract for the d Doe therefore desire thee to give the S L benefit of the three Reformed ministers in Mitchel & all persons Concearned for or Siegen in which he promised them an annuity under him all reasonable Encouragemt in the Sd Design.... of 350 rix dollars in perpetuity from the pro- The Swiss nobleman's charm had evidently ceeds of the American mines. This "docu- worked for William Penn continued: ment" was duly sealed by the imperial notary Haveing mencioned the Baron Graffenried I and signed by leading Siegen citizens as wit- must Particularly recommend him to thy nesses in the presence of the overwhelmed favour and Notice, as a Gentleman of Worth main beneficiary, the Rev. Johannes Daniel Eberhardi, inspector of the Reformed Church that haveing made a very good figure, & born 18 very Considerable Offices in his own Countrey, in Nassau-Siegen. If we may believe Graf- is now willing to retire, & Plant himself in a fenried's apology, written several years after Land of more freedom & Ease.17 the events, Albrecht did arouse some suspi- Despite these negotiations with the pro- cion and by order of the imperial administra- prietors of Carolina and Pennsylvania, Michel tors who were then in charge of the Siegen returned to prospecting in the back country of territory he was detained and all his belong- Virginia while Graffenried accompanied the ings and utensils were impounded. Upon Swiss colonists to North Carolina though he intervention of the English envoy he was had also taken care to select two miners from released.19 the large crowd of Germans in London to go In May 1712 Albrecht was in London and with him to America. busy designing a fancy shareholders' book The ensuing events proved that the mining (Gewercken-Buch) of the mines with the inten- contracts for the Carolinas and Pennsylvania tion of selling shares. By this time he had were to remain nothing more than pieces of promoted himself to General Berg-Hauptmann paper. [chief inspector of mines] of the gold and silver mines in the province of South Carol- The Shareholders' Book [Gewercken-Buch] ina.20 But he was also growing impatient. No Before returning to his prospecting camp orders to proceed to America were forthcom- on the Potomac, Michel had gone over to the ing from Graffenried. The latter had no Netherlands where he met with a German sooner somewhat consolidated his German head miner, Johann Justus Albrecht, in order and Swiss settlement at New Bern, North to work out a contract for the personnel to be Carolina, than an Indian attack practically recruited in German mining areas. Albrecht wiped out the colony. Graffenried himself was hired as Berghauptmann (inspector of barely escaped with his life. He did ask Michel mines) and charged with the procurement of by letter to inform Albrecht not to come with

[ 46]

Cover page of Johann Justus Albrechts "Gewercken Buch" of 1712. (Virginia State Library)

[ 47 ] his company without express orders. Michel, return to Siegen for the winter but they feared however, eager to get some more work started, rightly that the authorities would not re-admit advised the head miner instead to come over them. After much vexation Graffenried found with one or two others to have a look for temporary work and shelter for some of them himself.21 and got their agreement to serve four years in Albrecht returned to Siegen immediately. exchange for their passage. The agent for Twelve skilled miners and their families, Virginia, Nathaniel Blakiston, whose aid complete with a Reformed minister and a Graffenried had enlisted, found space on a schoolmaster, responded to his call. Thanks ship leaving for Virginia early in 1714. While more likely to the earlier clarification of his the Swiss entrepreneur was still hoping that activities by the English envoy than to the miners would eventually be engaged in Albrecht's public relations efforts, the emi- the purported silver mines, Blakiston was grants were granted leave without trouble confident that Governor Spotswood would from the authorities.22 The retired pastor, welcome them for his own purposes.24 seventy-year-old Joh. Heinrich Häger, was The Siegeners arrived in Virginia on April particularly eager to join the group because 28,1714. Spotswood paid the captain the bal- his son, Joh. Friedrick Häger, had left Siegen ance of 150 pounds still owed on their trans- in 1709 and was installed with the blessings of portation, allegedly from his own pocket. Anglican Church as minister to the Palatines Thus they were his personal indentured ser- in the Hudson Valley. Little did he realize the vants. Informing the Board of Trade of their distances in America. There is no record of arrival, the governor disguised their real pur- any meeting of father and son. The Siegen pose by reporting that they were placed on the area had provided a number of emigrants in frontier and equipped with cannons and 1709. There must have been an awareness of rifles. The palisades in which he fenced in the available land in America because the Häg- entire group was given the name Germanna ers, father and son, had close and friendly in honor of both their homeland, Germany, relations with the Behagel family who were and Queen Anne. The beginnings at Ger- the heirs to the late Daniel Behagel's share in manna were extremely hard for the Siegen- the Frankfurt Company lands in Pennsylva- ers, and their life was a far cry from Albrecht's nia.23 The fact that the Siegeners came with golden promises.25 In November 1715, when their families was unusual for contract labor. the young Huguenot John Fontaine visited By the end of September 1713, the miners Germanna, he confided to his diary: "The were in London. Albrecht was unable to find Germans live very miserably." Although a passage for them. Graffenried, a virtual Spotswood used public funds for their support refugee from the disaster that had befallen as frontier rangers, the miners and their fami- his colony in North Carolina and, as no more lies suffered considerably. It was not until funds from his associates in Bern had March, 1716, that anything resembling the reached him, also a fugitive from creditors, work for which these men had chosen to go to arrived atjust about the same time in London. America was begun. At that time, as Albrecht He had spent some time in Virginia and had testified later in Essex County Court, Spots- learned discouraging things about Michel wood "did put under my command eleven activities. On the other, hand Governor Alex- laboring men to work in mines or quarries at ander Spotswood had shown keen interest in or near Germanna." Fontaine, who was again the mining prospects. Graffenried had not in the area on August 25,1716, recorded "after expected to find Albrecht and his miners in dinner we went to the mines, but I could not London. Despite his own predicament, his observe that there was any good mine. The sense of responsibility came briefly back to Germans pretend that 'tis a silver mine." him and he tried to help them. The personal According to Albrecht, who signed as "Holt- savings of the miners were running low. Graf- man John Justice Albright" and Hans Jacob fenried tried in vain to persuade them to Holtzklau, the schoolmaster, the work con-

[48 ] tinued only until December 1718.26 On October 17,1720, master miner Johann The miners, well aware of their four-year Jacob Luttroth signed a contract in Amster- contract, began to grow restless in 1718. dam for five years with Andrew Fresneau. In Spotswood, in one of his moves that five years April 1721, more Germans received contracts later brought about his removal from office, from Fresneau, namely the master refiner had personally acquired the Germanna tract Christian Müller and smelter workers Hans in 1716, thus making the Siegeners technically Vogt, Sr. and Jr., and George Wilhelm Morick. his tenants even after their indenture expired In July 1721, a six-year contract was signed for in April 1718. Three of the Germans, John work in Fresneau's enterprise by Elias Hoff- Fischbach, Johann Hoffmann and Jacob mann, overseer of the workmen and by the Holtzklau, obtained their naturalization in following individuals: order to be able to acquire and hold land on Anones Grasteyn behalf of the group. In 1718, a warrant was Hans Heinrich Keller issued to these three men for more than 1,800 Johann George Fricke acres on Licking Run to which they removed Heinrich Godücke themselves in the following year and founded Matthias Otto Germantown. The erstwhile miners turned Michael Hoffmann into versatile farmers, soon adding cash- Zacharias Auwenhof producing tobacco to their crops. Head miner Hans Peter Holthan Albrecht was not among those who settled on Daniel Ziechelsen Licking Run. The last record found of him in Of all the contract workers named only four Virginia is his affidavit of May 1720 describ- were unable to write their names and made ing the actual work done by the miners.28 their marks (the two Vogts, Grasteyn and Keller).31 There were no doubt others from Germany The Situation in Connecticut at Simsbury whose contracts have not been In the Simsbury area of Connecticut, preserved. The Lutheran pietist lay preacher, northwest of Hartford, copper deposits were Johann Berndt van Dieren, who had been discovered as early as 1705. Mining opera- entrusted by the court chaplain, Anton Wil- tions began about 1713 but they were hin- helm Böhme, in London with a large barrel of dered both by lack of investments and the books to be distributed among the German disadvantage of having to be carried out settlers on the Schoharie in New York, secretly, since English regulations prohibited reported to Böhme on May 26, 1721: "Still the smelting and refining of copper in the another volume of sermons by Mr. Spener I colonies. Two New York merchants, Andrew gave to New England to the silver mine, where Fresneau and Charles Crommelin, and sev- there are many Germans who have neither eral Amsterdam investors headed by Abra- books nor a preacher. They promised me to ham Sydervelt acquired part of the Simsbury encourage one another diligently to listen to 32 copper mines and works. They began to the word of God." It is strange that van recruit miners in Germany.29 Dieren also came away with the impression In July 1718, three men from Altenau near that is was a silver mine although it was widely Clausthal in the Harz, George Henckel, known that the deposits yielded only copper. Heinrich Henckel and Christopher Michael, Before the men hired in 1721 arrived, were contracted by the firm Benelle & Com- Andrew Fresneau had separated from his pany for seven years to work in developing Amsterdam partners and on May 11,1721, the the Crommelin mine. In Amsterdam they General Assembly revived a extended for boarded the ship Henry and Margaret, Capt. seven more years the mining privileges of the Nicolas Tinmoth, for New York. Benelle & Co. now divided partners. Abraham Sydervelt paid the captain 225 guilders for their ocean appeared before the legislature on behalf of fare.30 the Dutch proprietors and Jacob Luttroth

[ 49 ] represented Fresneau.39 The latter works for Pennsylvania he had hedged a larger project. smelting and refining on Hopmeadow Brook. With the connivance of David Lloyd he pre- The place where the crushing mill and fur- pared the takeover of the 25,000 acres of land nace stood was named Hanover by the belonging to the Frankfurt Company. This workmen. huge tract had remained unoccupied for When the Hanover works failed and togeth- more than two decades since its acquisition by er with Fresneau's other property at Simsbury a number of pietist investors. Several of the were attached in 1725,1,700 pounds of "black absentee shareholders had died and the copper," i.e. unrefined, were among the assets remaining ones and the heirs, several of them listed.34 Little is known of what happened to known personally to Sprögel, showed little 40 the workmen whose contracts had not yet interest. The acting administrator, Daniel expired. A local history lists Caspar Hoofman Falckner, was beset by personal problems. It who remained in Simsbury and died there in was now or never. There were potential emi- 1732. The master refiner, J. Christian Müller, grants with some means in the Palatinate and married a local woman and also stayed adjacent areas getting ready to leave. Sprögel behind.35 His name and that of Luttroth also prepared the move politically. In his 1708 appear among the signatures of a letter writ- petition "on behalf of the German Nation: in ten on April 27,1725, by leading Lutherans in support of a general naturalization bill before New York to the Amsterdam Lutheran consis- the House of Parliament," he stressed the tory in support of appointing Job. Berndt van need for a naturalization free of charge and Dieren as their pastor.36 This is the last record cited the cost of emigration, particular of mov- found so far of members of the short-lived ing household goods overland and down the 41 German mining community in Connecticut. Rhine. The takeover of the Frankfurt Company lands was delayed by one of the mishaps for The Situation in Pennsylvania which Sprögel's unsavory business career Johann Heinrich Sprögel came to Phila- became known. He was captured by the delphia in August 1700 with the transport of French with his ship Prince George. Although immigrants from Saxony and Holstein he soon made his escape from Dunkerque to gathered by Daniel and Justus Falckner. Like Rotterdam and was back in Philadelphia late the Falckners, he was the son of a Lutheran in 1708, valuable time was lost. The transfer of clergyman who was much respected in pietist the Frankfurt Company lands was pushed circles. From the beginning Sprögel showed a through the court in December 1708. William definite inclination toward business. He Penn referred to it as the "notorious case of obtained his naturalization in 1705 so that he the Frankford Company, the Abhorrence could trade without hindrance." That he was here of all men of Law that have heard of it..," not only interested in trading in merchandise and Franz Daniel Pastorius called Sprögel is evident from the intelligence reports of the "worse than the worst Land-Pirate in the Saxon resident in London, Carl Christian world." He had won the land but lost respect 42 Kirchner. In 1706, Kirchner stated that and friends. Moreover, the emigration of Sprögel had returned from Pennsylvania with 1709 turned out to be a feverish, almost hyster- the Lic. Mentze, the scout for the High Ger- ical mass movement which was diverted from man Society of Langensalza, "with the secret Penn's colony by the British authorities. intention of bringing peasants and artisans But there were other benefits to be reaped from Saxony."38 When that scheme came to besides the piecemeal sale of tracts when naught, Sprögel turned to Rotterdam where emigration from Germany intensified again he had no trouble obtaining credit on in 1717 and 1719. Mineral deposits were discov- account of his father's reputation. In October ered in the Stone Hill on Sprögel's land. He 1707, he acquired his ship, a small one at that, sent samples of the ore to England and Ger- but it was an auspicious beginning.39 Back in many for testing. By 1723, he had found inves- [ 50 ] tors willing to back the opening of a copper they presently threathen to Kill him. Now that mine. A company of sixteen partners was there is a great deal of Oar in America, whe not onely See by the Spaniards to their greatest formed. Sprögel went to Clausthal in the Harz Advantage, but is likewise Known by expe- Mountains to procure miners but he was also rience that in the Northern part of America still looking for prospective settlers. A number all Manner of Oar is found, especially Copper of reports praising the land and extolling the Oar very rich and which Some upon Tryall wealth of ores at the Perkiomen mine are said yielded 19 Gran of Gold out of ½ Ountz of to have appeared in Breslau in the journal of Copper, and the more Soutward, the richer the Oar is. the Society of Arts and Natural Sciences In these lengthy observations Sprögel also between 1720 and 1727, but so far the reports urged the British government to ease the have not been located. In the absence of reli- restrictions placed on colonial manufactur- able records, it can be said that the develop- ing. With respect to craftsmen who came to ment of the mine stalled because it did not 43 the colonies, Sprögel found "that the People really go into production until 1740. Sprögel who transport themselves, generally take was again in Germany in 1739 where he might more delight to live upon a Plantation rather have contacted the expert ore miner Chris- then to follow their Usual Trade," because topher Geist, but when Geist and his mine farming enabled them to work for their own workers arrived on the ship Lydia in Sep- livelihood whereas crafts and manufacture tember 1740, they found that Sprögel had died 44 were difficult on account of the general lack a few months earlier. of cash in the colonies. The Crown's insist- Sprögel's interest in mines is attested to by a ence on "Royall Mines" prompted him to memorial on trade between the colonies, remark that "if this reservation must extend Great Britain, and the king's German domin- itself to the American Plantations, where ions which he submitted to the Board of there are actually Royall Mines, and that his Trade in October, 1731, while he was in Majty do not improve them, nor give the Sub- London: jects Encouragement to improve, then the They say that the Royall Mines belongs to the Nation will reap no more benefitt of that King, which is the reason, that the People in America do not care to discover any, neither which they have, as of that which they have will the Indians do it, they Say, it will kindle a not, which is against that good Intent the War, if they are discovered, and it is Known by Crown reserved for, and therefore deserves a experience, that if any body agrees with one Serious Consideration."45 particular Indian, to discover Such a place

NOTES

1 Travels and Works of Captain John Smith, ed. by Edward ducted in 1983 by Dipl.-Ing. Hofmann, Archivist of the Arber and A. G. Bradley (Edinburgh, 1910), 482; William Freiberg Mining Academy, provided no clues. Strachey, The Historic of Travell into Virginia Britania 6(Johann Wilhelm Petersen), Lebens-BeschreibungJohan- (1612), ed. by Louis B. Wright and Virginia Freund (Lon- nes Wilhelmi Petersen, 2nd ed. (Frankfurt, 1719), 220,244-53. don, 1953), 131. 7Mm. Board of Property I,538-9, 595-6. 2Dr. Marianne S. Wokeck, one of the editors of the 8Michel (1675-1720) sent frequent reports and letters William Penn papers, drew my attention to the Redegelt from his travels in the English colonies over the years. J. appointment document, for which I would like to thank H. Graff, "Franz Michel von Bern und seine Reisen nach her here. The document was not included in the pub- Amerika 1701-1704," Neues Berner Taschenbuch auf 1898 lished papers but is available on microfilm * 11:209, Hist. (Bern, 1897), 59-144. For an annotated English translation Soc. of Pa. by William J. Hinke, see Virginia Magazine of History and 3Minutes of the Board of Property of the Province of Pennsyl- Biography [hereafter, VMHB] XXIV (1916), 1-43, 113-41, vania (Harrisburg, 1893), I,468 & 686. 275-303. Colonial Records of Pennsylvania (Philadelphia, 4Staatsarchiv Dresden, loc. 9905, p. 25, "Eine Langen 1852) II (Minutes of the Provincial Council, 1700-1717), Salzer Compagnie betreffend..." Photostats in Library of 420-22. Congress. 9John Lawson, A New Voyage to Carolina (London, 1709), 5Public Record Office, S.P. 84/232, fo. 325. A search of 163,205-6 the Freiburg and other Saxon records for Kramer con- 10Charles E. Kemper, "Documents Relating to Early

[ 51 ] Projected Swiss Colonies in the Valley of Virginia," VA 22701 which has acquired the original Germanna VMHB XXIX (1921), 1-17; Geza Schtz, "Additions to the tract, now the site of Siegen Forest and the Germanna History of the Swiss Colonization Projects in Carolina," Community College. North Carolina Historical Review X (1933), 13341. 29Benjamin Trumbull, A Complete History of Connecticut 11Von Graffenried (1661-1743) wrote apologetic accounts (New London, CT, 1898), 23-6; Noah A. Phelps, History of of the events from 1709 to 1713 in German and in French. Simsbury, Granby and Canton 1642-1845 (Hartford, CT, For transcripts of both versions and English translations 1845), 113-7. see Vincent H. Todd, Christopher von Graffenried's 30Gemeentelijke Archivdienst Amsterdam, Notar. Arch. Account of the Founding of New Bern (Raleigh, NC, #8565 (2 items, unnumbered, dated 20 July 1718). 1920) [quoted passage on pp. 119 and 223]. For the best 31GA-Amsterdam, N.A. #6443, Nos. 454, 455, 456; description and evaluation of Graffenried's American #6440, No. 559; #6442, Nos. 210,215. activities see Hans Gustav Keller, "Christopher von Graf- 32Johann Berndt von Düren to the Rev. A. W. Böhme, fenried und die Gründung von Neu-Bern in Nord- 26 May 1721. The letter was forwarded by Böhme to Carolina," Archiv des Historischen Vereins des Kantons Inspector Neubauer in Halle. Franc. Archiv Halle, A144, Bern XLII (1953), 251-90. p. 8714 and C 229, Nr.7. 12VMHB XXIX, 16-17. 33 The Public Records of the Colony of Connecticut from May, 13William L. Saunders (ed.), The Colonial Records of North 1717, To October, 1725 ed. by Charles J. Hoadly (Hartford, Carolina (Raleigh, NC, 1886) 1,723. 1872), 85-7,371-2. 14 The Papers of William Penn, ed. by Mary Maples Dunn, 34Phelps, Simsbury, 117. Richard S. Dunn, et al. (Philadelphia, 1981-87) IV, 639. 35Phelps, Simsbury, 117. William Penn to James Logan, 3 March 1709. 36The Lutheran Church in New York 1649-1772 — Records 15Papers ofWm. Penn TV, 632. James Logan to William in the Lutheran Church Archives at Amsterdam, Holland, Penn, 3 Feb. 1708/9. transl. Arnold J. H. vanLear (New York, 1946), 128,138. 16Todd, Graffenried, 386. 37Job. Heinrich Sprögel (1679-1740) and his brother Lud- 17Papers ofWm. Penn TV, 674-5. William Penn to Charles wig Christian were both active in business and politics. Gookin, 14 June 1710. The brother even was a member of the Assembly. Neither 18Kirchenarchiv der Ev. Reformierten Kirchenge- one has left any personal papers which could give their meinde, Siegen, sub L 3 19 side of various controversies. The meagre sources on Job. 19Todd, Graffenried, 349-50. Heinrich include the anonymous article "The German 20Acopy of the Gewerckenbuch was bound into "Spotsylvania Tract," in ThePerkiomenRegionVI (1928),2-21,esp.pp. 3-5. County, V Court Order Book 1724-1730." Virginia State A reproachful letter to him by Benjamin Furly, dated 5 Archives. I owe thanks to Dr. George Fenwick Jones of April 1709, appeared in the Penns. Mag of Hist. & Biogr. Baltimore for drawing my attention to it. XXVII (1903), 367-7. 21Todd, Graffenried, 386. 38Staatsarchiv Dresden, loc. 2249, pp. 19-20. Kirchner 22Auswanderung 1713 Nassau-Siegen, Staatsarchiv Mün- Report, 23 March 1706. ster. 39GA-Rotterdam, ONA 1169 (171), 828-33, 15 Oct. 1707; 23The relationship Häger-Behagel dated back to the 1169 (175), 847-9; 1169 (176), 850-3, both 18 Oct. 1707; 1498 times when the elder Hager taught at Hanau. See John F. (101), 2304, 25 Mar. 1709. Haeger to Society for Propagating the Gospel, 12 July 40The Frankfurt Company began in 1682/83 as Ger- 1712, Hugh Hastings (ed.), Ecclesiastical Records, State of man Company, a grouping of several purchasers of Pen- New York (Albany, 1901-06) HI, 1962-3. nsylvania land, in whose service Franz Daniel Pastorius 24Todd, Graffenried, 257-9; Robert A. Brock (ed,), The went to Philadelphia in 1683. The stockholders reorgan- Official Letters of Alexander Spotswood, 1710-1722 (Rich- ized their company in 1686 under its final name. Except mond, 1882) II, 66. for the son of Balthasar Jawert, none of the members or 25Spotswood Letters II, 70. their heirs emigrated to America. The 25,000 acres of 26The Journal of John Fontaine, ed. by Edward Porter land remained unoccupied. In 1700 the stockholders Alexander (Williamsburg, VA, 1972), 88. replaced Pastorius as administrator by Daniel Falckner, 27Fontaine, 102; Essex County, VA, Deeds (1718-1721), Johannes Kelpius and Johannes Jawert Kelpius declined 180. For the continuation of Spotswood's iron production such worldly activity and Jawert moved to Maryland, see LesterJ. Cappon, Iron Works at Tuball (Charlottesville, which left Falckner alone to settle the property with 1945), esp. pp. 3-16. puchasers. 28For the Germanna colony and sources see Klaus 41A copy of Sprögel's petition was preserved among the Wust, The Virginia Germans (Charlottesville, 1989), 20-24, papers of John Archdale, one of the proprietors of Carol- 256. The 1714 colony of Siegeners is one of the best ina who also promoted the bill for naturalization in 1708. researched German groups in colonial America. The Library of Congress, Archdale Mss., 52. basic study still remains William J. Hinke, "The First 42Samuel W. Pennypacker, Pennsylvania Colonial Cases German Reformed Colony in Virginia: 1714-1750," Jour- (Philadelphia, 1892), 171-8. For the unsuccessful counter nal of the Presbyterian Historical Society II (1903), 1-17,98-110, moves by Pastorius and Jawert before the Provincial 140-50. Several publications on family records have been Council on March 1, 1708/9 see Minutes of the Provincial issued by the Germanna Foundation, Box 693, Culpeper, Council of Pennsylvania, 1700-1717 (Philadelphia, 1852),

[ 52 ] 430-1; Pastorius' "Exemplura sine Exeraplo...," in which omen Region II (1923), 3-7. The latter article appeared first he condemned Sprögel's takeover, was printed on pp. in The Mineral Collector XIV, No. 6. in August 1907. 74-79 of Samuel W. Pennypacker, The Settlement of German- 44Ralph Beaver Strassburger (benefactor) and William town (Philadelphia, 1899). For Penn's reaction see Papers John Hinke (editor and compiler), Pennsylvania German of Wm. Perm IV, 688. Pioneers (Norristown, PA, 1934) I, 277-9. 43N. F. Schmidt, "The Old Perkiomen Copper Mine," 45P.R.O., C.O. 5/1325, fos. 335-46. The quotes here are The Perkiomen Region I (1922), 30-2; George W. Geist, "The on fos. 335,338 and 339. A transcript of the document was Story of the First Pennsylvania Copper Mine," The Perki- published in VMHB XXXVI (1928), 54-9.

[ 53 ]

THE GEORGIA SALZBURGERS AND SLAVERY (Protest against, Resignation to, and Participation in)

Jerusalem Church Courtesy George F.Jones

Like the inhabitants of Germantown, who attention of scholars of Georgia history. protested against slavery in 1683, the Georgia Because the two historians used no German Salzburgers have long been praised as oppo- sources and my own study was brief and nents of that peculiar institution. In 1984, two undocumented, a further study of the attitude historians questioned whether or not the of the Georgia Salzburgers toward slavery is Salzburgers were as opposed to slavery as had justified, especially since the present study been popularly believed. In fact, my Salzburger examines the experience which many of the Saga, which also appeared in 1984, showed Germans in Georgia, both Salzburgers and that the view of the Georgia Salzburgers as others, had with slavery.1 stalwart opponents of slavery was not entirely The Georgia Salzburgers were a small part tenable. Actually, the two historians were of the many Lutherans expelled from Roman more or less beating a dead horse, one ade- Catholic Archbishopric of Salzburg in the quately killed in 1938 by Hildegard Binder- year 1731. They were recruited from those Johnson, whose concise and factual contribu- exiles who had found temporary refuge in tion, being in German, has not come to the Swabian cities. The first Salzburger transport,

[ 55 ] or traveling group, arrived in Georgia in It did not take the Georgians long to dis- March of 1734 under the conduct of Baron cover the difficulty of competing against slave Philip George Friedrich von Reck and was labor. Already on December 14,1734, Thomas settled at an infertile and inaccessible spot on Christie, the recorder in Savannah, wrote that Ebenezer Creek some twenty-five miles the Carolinians with their slaves could under- northwest of Savannah. By the time a second sell the Georgian's rice and corn; and a man and third transport arrived, von Reek's group named Robert Parker,6 who built a sawmill, had determined that the spot chosen initially found that he could not compete against the was infertile, and the settlement was moved to Carolinians with their slave labor.7 Baron von the bank of the Savannah River a few miles Reck, the leader of the first Salzburger trans- away.2 port, explained how, in the slave colonies, the Although the Trustees who founded slave owners let their more clever slaves learn Georgia had outlawed slavery, Paul Jenys, the a profession, while the remainder cultivated Speaker of the House in South Carolina, lent the fields. He continues, "Then, because the Salzburgers fourteen slaves to help them everything is occupied by Negroes who have fell trees and saw boards. Despite the useful- to work hard and with miserable sustenance ness of these involuntary workers, the Salz- day and night and even on Sunday, which is a burgers saw the evils of the system and devel- terrible thing, a white man in these lands, if oped not only a disgust for the evils of a system he cannot buy a slave, must work himself like which could engender such violence, but also a slave."8 a fear of the slaves because of their violence While slavery was still illegal in Georgia, the toward each other.3 In fact, they had already Salzburgers had observed the fourteen seen the evils of slavery in their short sojourn Negroes lent them by Jenys. These had been in Charleston, as their pastor, Johann Martin rather primitive people, apparently newly Boltuzius, had recorded in hisjournal.4 Chris- arrived from Africa. One of them stabbed tian Israel Gronau, Boltzius assistant pastor, another, one ran away, and a third committed was somewhat inconsistent in his attitude suicide in order that he might return to Africa toward Blacks. He often referred to their in spirit.9 After that, the Salzburgers often saw treachery and thieving; yet he attributed such black rowers on the river, including those of behavior to the bad treatment they received. Theobald Kieffer, a good friend in Purysburg, He as also lenient when obliged to have an a Swiss settlement downstream from Ebe- unruly slave punished.5 nezer. One of Kieffer's slaves attended While the Trustees wished to keep Georgia church on April 11, 1742, and Boltzius was free of slavery, their stand owned less to a impressed by his good behavior.10 moral repugnance against slavery than to a Boltzius considered slavery not only desire to further their goal of developing unproductive, but also dangerous, having Georgia into a land of yeoman farmers able to been alarmed by the bloody uprising at Stono defend their homes. Besides, the Trustees saw Ferry in South Carolina, which he mentioned the danger of having discontented slaves, on March 13,1739, and by an attempted rebel- whom the Spaniards might tempt to run away lion at Santee, which he mentioned on July 14, to Florida or even to rebel. In addition, slave 1740. He also considered slavery immoral, labor would degrade honest work and corrupt since the slaves are snatched away from their the masterclass, and even those Trustees who own country, as he explained on July 19,1740. personally abhorred slavery probably did not Boltzius consistently upheld the Trustees' wish to offend their many friends who prof- stand against slavery. In 1741, he would not ited from slavery in the West Indies and allow the Kieffers to employ their three slaves South Carolina. The evangelist George in making tar on the Georgia side of the river, Whitefield saw no incongruity in maintaining as he reported on August 27th of that year; a slave-operated plantation in South Carolina and on December 28th of the following year to support his orphanage in Georgia. he remarked that white people could not find [ 56 ] employment in South Carolina where there Charleston to escape the wrath of the "Mal- were enough Negroes. He also thought there contents," a pro-slavery faction in Savannah could be no blessing in the un-Christian life which had branded both Boltzius and Dobell of slave-holders, as he wrote on February 8, "mercenary slaves" of the Trustees.18 In his 1743. On December 24,1745, he wrote White- letter, Boltzius renewed his arguments against field a long letter refuting, one by one, the slavery and informed Dobell that he was latter's arguments in favor of slavery;11 and resolved to suffer "heinous reflectance, revil- this letter brought him favorable comments ing, and reproaches" rather than "lend the from the Trustees. least finger to promote the Introduction of On January 2, 1746, Boltzius sent Urls- Black Slaves to the apparent destruction of perger a similar letter of seventeen pages in our well situated and fertile Province as an German brilliantly summarizing all the eco- intended Asylum for many poor laboring Prot- nomic, social, moral, and military arguments estants." He assures Dobell that he will not against slavery.12 This letter may well have waver in his views although he might be in been the stimulus for Urlsperger's spirited let- mortal danger from those who look upon him ter of August first of that year to the as a stone in their way. He gives no credence Trustees at all to certain proposed restrictions on slav- urging them not to introduce slavery into ery promised, since such restrictions were Georgia;13 and, according to Ziegenhagen, it already being ignored in South Carolina.19 was the reason that several wavering Trustees By 1749 the "Malcontents" in Savannah were won back to their stand against slavery.14 had so greatly intimidated Boltzius that he When the land around Parker's Mill was given thought his life in danger and ceased oppos- to the Salzburgers on July 18, 1746, this ing them. His views, however, were still main- appeared to be a reward for their opposition tained by many of his fellow Salzburgers. On to slavery, for Parker had tried to operate the April 28, 1749, Christian Leimberger, Ru- mill with slave labor despite the Trustees' precht Steiner, Matthias Brandner, Simon prohibition. Reiter, and Thomas Gschwandl petitioned As late as May 6, 1747, Boltzius was still against slavery and declared they would not writing persuasively against slavery, which have come to Georgia had they known that it would drive out free labor and present a would be permitted. They would have pre- danger to life and property;15 and on August ferred to go to Prussia to be among whites and 29, 1747, he wrote to the Trustees' secretary, safe from thieving people who would take Benjamin Martyn, that many hated him for away their livelihood, and now they were upholding the Trustees' stand on slavery. In ready to go to any of the King's territories this very long letter, in which he well summar- where no slaves were allowed. Agreeing with ized the Salzburgers' previous hardships, the petitioners and seeing no other remedy, Boltzius assured Martyn that, lest people Boltzius saw their complaint as grounds to believe he forced his own will on his pari- petition for the Salzburgers all the land from shioners, he had let Ludwig Mayer, the sur- Abercorn to Mount Pleasant and from Ebe- geon and justiciary, question them privately, nezer to the Ogeechee so that they would with the result that they expressed unanimous have no slave owners as neighbors. On opposition to it.16 August 24th of the same year he prayed that Nevertheless, Boltzius wrote on September God would help him to remain steadfast in his 7,1747, to Gotthilf August Francke, the head opposition to slavery. of the Francke Foundation in Halle, that he Nevertheless, during the same year the had resolved to say nothing more against people of Savannah heaped "so much hei- slavery, since the Trustees could not settle the nous reflectance" on Boltzius for his fight colony with industrious white settlers.17 against slavery that he began to question his However, on May 20, 1748, Boltzius wrote stance and actually besought the Trustees to an eloquent letter against slavery to his friend disregard his previous petitions against slav- and admirer John Dobell, who had fled to [ 57 ] ery and to allow the introduction of black slaves in Africa under tyrannical conditions slaves, but only "under such wise restrictions and had been sold and bought legally. There- that it be not a discouragement but rather an fore Christians should feel no more scruples encouragement to poor white Industrious than the patriarchs, or even Philemon, to people to settle and live in this happy Cli- whom St. Paul returned the slave Onesimus. mate."20 In October of that year Boltzius Moreover, the slaves would now have a attended the Assembly in Savannah that chance to become Christians. Despite these designed the new slave code and was able to assurances, Boltzius expressed his scruples affect the development of the law to provide on August 23rd and still again on September for the slaves' welfare.21 Boltzius' change of 18th. heart may help explain why the Trustees, who Once slavery was legalized, Boltzius still opposed slavery, arranged to have one resigned himself to it. Backed up by Urls- Palatine and three Swabian transports re- perger's letter, he told his flock that it was cruited for Ebenezer during the next five permissible to keep slaves if one looked out years. for both their bodies and their souls, as he Boltzius' anti-slavery stance was also weak- wrote in his journal on April 3, 1751. By ened by his dear friend James Habersham, October 1752, Boltzius admitted that one who had come to Georgia with Whitefield to could accomplish more with black slaves than serve as a teacher but was soon manager of with white indentured servants;24 and only a Whitefield's orphanage, Bethesda. There he few years later, on January 3,1753, he justified learned the skills necessary to become a suc- slavery again when he needed labor for his cessful merchant; and as such he wished the uncultivated lands. However, Boltzius always Salzburgers to develop staple exports such as insisted on good treatment, which would not lumber, which would be advanced by slave spoil the slaves but would make them loyal, labor. In 1750, when Habersham offered to since they would not run away from kind mas- supply the Salzburgers with slaves on credit, ters. Whatever maliciousness they had was Boltzius decided not to stand in the way. due to brutal treatment.25 On the other hand, Indeed, it is ironic that Christian Leimberger, on November 12th and August 3, 1752, Bolt- who had argued so ardently against slavery, zius complained that his parishioners were was the first to acquire a slave. Boltzius was, giving their slaves too much freedom on however, always sympathetic toward the Sundays. slaves; and he preached against cruel treat- No sooner had Boltzius withdrawn his ment. On May 17, 1742, Boltzius reports his objections to slavery than the Salzburgers shock at hearing that a slave was tortured with began to buy slaves. However, as Muhlenberg a thumbscrew, although conceivably the inci- observed on his journey through South Caroli- dent occurred across the river, in the area na,26 many Germans considered it unprofita- beyond his control.22 ble to keep slaves. As seen in the comparison Boltzius' change of heart was further of free and bonded white servants, those work facilitated by a letter of July 11, 1750, from best who work for themselves. We may assume Samuel Urlsperger, the Salzburgers' "Rever- that many small German farmers in Georgia end Father" in Augsburg, which stated: would have agreed with Philip Eisenmann of If need is such that one can do nothing else, Old Indian Swamp fifty miles from Charles- then one may take slaves in faith and for the ton. According to Muhlenberg, Eisenmann purposes of leading them to Christ. Then and his wife worked their plantation by the such a deed will not be a sin, but rather it may 23 sweat of their brows, and this proved that one lead to a blessing. could live and find food without slaves, pro- When, on April 19,1751, at the Council in vided, as Muhlenberg added, "one is godly Savannah, Boltzius revealed his scruples and contented and does not desire to take out 27 against buying and selling slaves, he was of this world more than he brought into it." assured that the slaves had already been For years Theobald Kieffer of Purysburg

[ 58 ] insisted that he was just about to move to One thinks of the child who needs more jam Ebenezer to be nearer Jerusalem Church; yet because it has some bread left and then needs something held him back. It is easy to suppose more bread because it has some jam left. It that he remained in South Carolina in order was probably by this method that Peter Sal- to profit from the use of slaves, even though terman (Schlectermann), a poor little orphan he was constantly complaining of their use- at Fort Argyle, later acquired six hundred lessness. On March 30, 1747, Boltzius acres and two Negroes by August 1771.29 recorded that one of Kieffer's slaves commit- Habersham remained the chief source of ted suicide, one of them died, and one tried to slaves for the Salzburgers, in part because he run away but was caught. His feet must have let them buy on credit, a failing they had been bound too tightly, for both of them had learned from the other colonists despite Bolt- to be amputated, thus greatly lessening his zius' warning. The number of slaves owned by value so that he was sold for a cow, which the Georgia Germans in 1767 to 1769 is died. Surely the wretch suffered a "Negro- revealed in their petitions for land, in which cure" at the hands of Jean Bourquin, the they had to state how much labor they could Purysburg surgeon. command.30 In April of 1753, when Haber- By January 27, 1750, Habersham was sham brought a shipload of twenty-six Blacks arguing persuasively that the Salzburgers from St. Kitts and St. Christopher and fattened should buy slaves and that Boltzius should use them for sale, Boltzius attended the auction some at the mill, for otherwise the poor Salz- and bought five slaves for £145. One of these burgers would be unable to live long without bondsmen, a Catholic man named Thomas, them. By July 17, 1750, not only Christian could speak excellent English; but Bolzius Leimberger but other Salzburgers as well had saw little hope of converting the others. He earned enough money through lumbering to was especially pleased with their performance buy black labor to help them with their work. when they rowed him back to Ebenezer. Six Some time before January 14,1751, the shoe- years later he and Rabenhorst, the fourth maker Matthias Zettler bought a black woman minister to serve at Ebenezer, bought a youth to help his wife in her silk business, and they for £35, who would have brought £40 if he christened her child Sulamith and reared it in had not been so emaciated.31 The following a Christian way along with their own. How- year a group of Salzburgers went down to ever, in March 1751, when they wished to get Savannah and bought nine or ten more rid of its surely mother yet keep the child, slaves.32 Boltzius read them the law that parents and One of the first large German slave owners children were not to be separated. On May in Georgia was Johann Hamm, an immigrant 12th of that year Zetder was still complaining from the West Indies, who brought slaves of his uncontrollable slave women. Boltzius from St. Christopher and proceeded to the said that slaves on the block in Charleston slave colony of South Carolina. Hamm often warned would-be purchasers that they bought five more slaves in Savannah on would run away. October 18,1755 and sold fourteen four days On September 27,1750, Jacob Caspar Wal- later. Subsequently, having become a "Gen- thour requested a grant for 400 acres "setting tlemen," Hamm requested 500 acres of land forth that his Father had enabled Him to with the Germans at Black Creek near Paster cultivate and improve the same" by giving him Lemke, Gronau's successor. He also requested £30 for a slave.28 The grant system greatly a lot in Savannah, which was granted on stimulated the purchase of slaves. First, the August 6,1755; yet two years later his 500 acres grantee had land, but no slaves. Then he had not yet been run out. In 1755 Hamm bought a slave on credit, giving his improved served as collector and assessor for Abercorn land as collateral. Having a slave, he could and Goshen, two German settlements near request more land; and then, having more Ebenezer, and also as surveyor of the high- land, he could get credit for another slave. ways.33 Some of the indentured Palatines in [ 59 ] Savannah also rose to the rank of "planter," attention even though he did not understand which term was gradually restricted to those the language well. Surely it was asking too farmers whose work was done by slaves. For much of a heathen to learn Swiss German just example, Jacob Ihle had twelve slaves by 1771 to get to heaven. and the tavern-keeper Solomon Schad left a In his journal entry for October 17, 1742, legacy including "1 Negerow thom" valued at Boltzius repeated a discussion he had had with £15.5 and "1 Negerow wench Selvey with a a blasphemous slave owner in which he gave boy 3 years old" valued at £35.0.0. reasons why it was the man's Christian duty to Among the slave-holders, one might be convert his slaves. The slave owner could surprised to find the Swiss phyician, Jean merely repeat the standard arguments: the Francois Regnier, who had been with the slaves could not comprehend Christianity, it Moravians in Georgia. After returning to would corrupt them, etc. Boltzius never Europe in 1738, when most of the Moravians doubted the Negro's basic intelligence. In his left Georgia, he had gone to Surinam in South often quoted Questionnaire of 1751 he wrote: America and then to Pennsylvania, where he 35 To be sure, people have often told me that feuded with the Moravians. On June 6,1769, you cannot teach the Negroes anything, that he returned to Georgia with a wife and child they are stupid and disinclined to learn and and three Negroes and received a grant for that they take advantage of Christian and two hundred acres.36 By now Regnier seemed gentle treatment. But I consider all this a fiction of those people who take no trouble to have recovered from his religious zeal and with the souls of these black people and do insanity, for which his host, Conrad Beissel of not wish to keep them in a Christian way with Ephrata, had had to confine him soon after regard to food, clothing, and work. They are his first arrival in America." During the Revo- intelligent enough and can learn arts and lution, slaves were a major form of booty, as crafts and even writing and mathematics, as is mentioned by Col. Friedrich von Porbeck, the known of some in Carolina. It is also known 38 that many Negro men and women of Chris- Hessian commander at Savannah. The Hes- tian and righteous masters have achieved the sians, who felt little prejudice against the Christian religion and a righteous behavior blacks, recruited many of them into their serv- in Christ41 ice, mostly as drummers but also as packmen In his journal entry for December 3,1752, and grenadiers.39 The labor of four hundred Boltzius still contended that blacks are just as slaves was crucial in the successful defense of intelligent as whites; and on November 3rd of Savannah by the British in 1779. Like other that year he advocated teaching the slaves slave owners, the Salzburgers had to furnish German for their proper religious instruc- slave labor for whichever government was in tion.42 Seven years later, he repeated his con- power during the Revolution. Because viction that blacks are just as intelligent as Johann Joachim Zubly was a clergyman, his whites and he regretted that they could speak slaves were exempted from work on the neither English nor German. The English roads; but Matthias Ash (Aschbergh, Eich- they acquired, which we now call "Gullah," berger) had to give over his slaves for public made it hard to convert them. The Salz- works in 1782.40 burgers fulfilled their duty to convert their It has been mentioned that the Kieffers, as slaves and provide them with Christian nur- residents of South Carolina, owned slaves ture, for Negro baptisms are recorded right before slavery was permitted in Georgia. To along with those of white children, as Lothar their credit, it should be said that they truly Tresp has shown and as it evident in the Ebe- tried to convert their slaves, as shown when nezer Church Records.44 one of the sons borrowed a primer from Bolt- It would appear that the first Negro child zius on May 14,1739, to try to teach his slave baptized in Georgia was baptized by Boltzius, enough German to understand the cate- not by Bartholomaus Zouberbuhler, the chism. On April 11, 1742, the young Kieffer Anglican minister, as is usually believed. It came to church with his slave, who paid close was a child belonging to Theobald Kieffer, Jr.,

[ 60 ] which was baptized on March 30,1747. This Vetterli family that came over on the Europa. was probably the same child who later took On February 10, 1739, while still supporting catechism instruction from Boltzius along the Trustees in their stand against slavery, with his master's children. When Muhlenberg Boltzius expressed his view that overseeing visited Rabenhorst in 1774, he noted that the slaves is a very evil profession. Ordinarily, old minister's slave children came to his "only such people are used for this task as can house every evening to pray with him.45 be quite merciless with these poor slaves." According to Boltzius, the Rabenhorsts, who Even though German slave-drivers were were childless, loved their slave twins as if available, the widow Rabenhorst preferred to they were their own children.46 In 1760, Bolt- do without one. This seems amazing in view zius baptized two black girls and three black of the allegation that a slave woman had tried boys; and by 1764 the number had risen to to poison her and her husband.52 Perhaps the four girls and four boys.47 When Boltzius bap- threat of employing a slave-driver was suffi- tized the child of a slave woman at the mill on cient to persuade her slaves to serve faithfully. August 21, 1760, he reminded the congrega- On September 26,1777, she wrote to Muhlen- tion that by nature black children were just as berg that: good as white children,48 and it was his policy My Negroes have behaved very well, and have that slave owners had to stand as Godparents been orderly and diligent. I have a good har- to their slave children and give them a Chris- vest of all fruit, also a great deal of cotton for Negro clothing. That also was done by the tian education. As a result, the Kieffers' black Lord. I was a little afraid on account of them, child attended Sunday School along with but he has guided their hearts. I often won- their white children.49 Just as the Blacks dered about it quietly; I will not be forced to 53 received the same baptism as the whites, they hire a white man if they continue this way. also merited identical funeral rites, as we see She ends her letter saying that she had told when Lemke held the funeral ceremony for her slaves that she has written Muhlenberg Capt. Kieffer's slave child on June 10,1760. that they loved her and that they promised to Some of the Germans who could not afford behave well and be diligent in the future and slaves profited from slavery by serving as that they sent him their love. After her death overseers or slave-drivers. On September 18, two years later the slaves were sold, we hope 1737, Boltzius mentioned a German overseer as a group and to a good master. However, from South Carolina who came to Ebenezer even if they remained on the plantation for a to attend Holy Communion; and on February while, they were probably scattered during 10,1738 he reported that a Salzburger named the Revolution, when strong young slaves Hans Michael Muggitzer had engaged him- were taken as booty while the old and helpless self as a slave driver and that his crony Ste- were left behind. phan Riedelsperger probably had too. The To judge from surviving documents, it is renegade Ruprecht Zittrauer also became a evident that the Salzburgers, through their slave-driver, as Boltzius wrote on May 24, spokesman Boltzius, resisted the introduction 1748. On December 15,1751, Boltzius reported of slavery as long as possible. When resistance that Ebenezer had just received a soap boiler proved useless, they resigned themselves to it from Stuttgart who had served as a slave drive reluctantly, and participated through neces- in South Carolina; and on August 15,1759, the sity. Except for the strong stance taken widow of Carpenter Hirsch married a slave initially by Boltzius, the Georgia Germans driver from South Carolina named Johann acted much as their compatriots did in Penn- Christoph Heinz.50 Conrad Fabre (no doubt sylvania and Maryland, as related by Leroy Faber) and Matthias Zophi, who served Hopkins.54 Henry Laurens as overseers in 1769, were Only a few Salzburgers acquired slaves, and clearly German or Swiss; and the slave driver then in small numbers, usually just enough to Joseph Weatherly, who is mentioned by Betty replace the labor of their lost children. As a Wood,51 may well have been a member of the result, Effingham County, where the Salz- [61 ] burgers dwelled, remained largely a land of the Salzburgers' credit it can be said they did white yeoman farmers, who were not driven not doubt the Negroes' native intelligence or out by slave labor as was the case in most their right to share in the Kingdom of God. surrounding areas such as Bryan County. To

NOTES Tides Abbreviated in Notes was not so much referring to their psysiognomies as to objecting to unfree labor competition. CR 25: 425 AG " Americanisches Ackerwerck Gottes, ed. Samuel Urls- 20Missionsarchiv der Franckeschen Stiftungen (Halle). perger. Halle, 1754 ff. D 24a fol. 239-332. AN= Ausfhrliche Nachrichten von den Saltzburgischm Emi- 21AG 195 (For AG see abbreviations above). For the granten..., ed. Samuel Urlsperger. Halle, 1735 ff. restrictions preventing maltreatment of slaves, see CR 25: CR - Colonial Records of the State of Georgia, Allen D. 347-350. Candler. Atlanta, 1904 ff. 22AGp. 195. DR = Detailed Reports on the Georgia Salzburgers, ed. 23Recorded on 3 April 1751 by Boltzius. See also his George F.Jones. Athens, GA., 1968 ff. retractions of 29 Aug. 1747 to Martyn and of 3 May 1748 to CO = Public Records Office, Colonial Officer Papers, Vereist (CR 25: 200, 205, 289). Class 5. 24 m AG 252-253. GHQ Georgia Historical Quarterly. 25AG IV159. SCHM = South Carolina Historical Magazine. 26The Journals of Henry Melchor Muhlenberg, ed. T. G.

1 Tappert & J. W. Doberstein, Philadelphia, 194248, p. 637. Betty Wood, Slavery in Colonial Georgia (Athens, GA, 27ibid, p.. 586. 1984); William L. Withhuhn, "Salzburgers and Slavery: A This enabled Walthour to acquire a grant of 250 acres Problem of Mentality," GHQ68 (1984), 173-192; George F. in 1770 (English Crown Grants in St. Matthews Parish in Jones, Salzburger Saga (Athens: U. of Ga. Press, 1983); Georgia, 1755-1775, ed. Pat Bryant. Atlanta 1982,186) Hildegard Binder-Johnson, "Die Haltung derSalzburger 29CR 12: 10. in Georgia zur Sklaverei (1734-1750)," Mitteilungen der 30These are listed in CR Vol. 10. Gesellschaft für Salzburgische Landeskunde 78 (1938), 31AGIV63. 183-196. 32 2 AG 360-363. See 469,488 / AG IV 269. For details on the Georgia Salzburgers, see Salzburger 33Attracts of Georgia Colonial Book J, 1755-1762, ed. Saga (note 1). 3 George F. Walker. Atlanta: R. J. Taylor, Jr. Foundation, DR 1: 69,73,76,79,87,95,96 (For DR see abbreviations 1978, 30-31; CR6:443; Abstracts of Georgia Colonial Convey- above). ance Book C-l, 1754-1761, ed. Frances H. Beckemeyer, 4DR 1: 57. 5 Atlanta, 1962,159; CR7:230,791; C/S:69,88. DR 1: 76,87,96. 34 6 CR12:36; Book E. Colonial Estates Inventories 1754-1770, CR 2: 0414-415 (For CR see abbreviations above). Record Group 49, Series 6. Georgia State Archives. According to Boltzius, who was usually correct, Parker 35Die Mission der Brüdergemeinde in Surinam, ed. F. was really a Swede named Purker. Stae- 7OR 5: 143. 8 helin. Herrnhut/Paramaribo, n.d, 113-114. George F.Jones, "Commissary von Reek's Report on 36CR 10: 777; Fries 214; CR 15: 456 and 19 11:417. Georgia." GHQ47 (1963), 94-110. 37See E. G. Alderfer, TheEphrata Commune (Pittsburg: U. 9DR 1:104,106,/CR 20: 169. 10 of Pa. Press, 1985), 59-60,71,152-153. Any event dated but not documented can be found in 38George F.Jones, "Georgia's German-Language Proc- AN(1734-March 1751) or AG(April 1751-1760). The period lamation," Report 39 (1984), 21-31. 1734-1752 also appears in DR, Vols. 1-14. 39 11 George F. Jones, "The Black Hessians," SCHM 83 CO 5 641 II519-526; CR 24:433-444 (For CO and CR (1983), 287-302. see abbreviations above). 40Robert S. Davis, Jr., Georgia Citizens and Soldiers of the 12ANS: 30-46 (For AN see abbreviations above). 13 American Revolution Easley, S.C., 1979,74; CR 19 I: 255. CO 5 642,32-33. 41AN 3: 974-975. See also AG TV 250. 14AN3:71. 42AG 252-254,257,268. 15CO 5 642, p. 83. 43AG IV 249-250. 16CO 5 642, p. 106. 44Lothar L. Tresp, "Early Negro Baptisms in Colonial 17CO 5 642, p. 110. Georgia by the Salzburgers at Ebenezer." Americana- 18CR 25:282-285. Without Boltzius' permission or Asutriaca 3 (1974), 194-234; C. A. Linn, ed., Ebenezer Record knowledge, Dobell sent a copy of this letter to the Trus- Book (Savannah, Ga., 1929). tees, with the result that it has survived. 45Muhlenberg, 645. See AG 406. 19CR 25: 289. When, on 17 Oct. 49, Boltzius wrote to 46AGIV2,8. James Vernon, one of the Trustees, that "Black Faces of 47AGIV2,20. Negroes are disagreeable to most of our inhabitants," he 48AGIV214. 49AGIV267.

[ 62 ] 50AG IV62. 54Leroy T. Hopkins, "The Germantown Protest: Orig- 51Betty Wood, p. 140. ins of Abolitionism among the German Residents of 52Muhlenberg, pp. 650,585. Southeastern Pennsylvania," Yearbook of German-American 53Andrew W. Lewis, "Henry Muhlenberg's Studies 28 (1988), 19-30. Georgia Correspondence." GHQ49 (1965), 431,432.

[ 63 ] IN MEMORIAM

at the Johns Hopkins University in 1956. Prior HAROLD JANTZ to the call to Hopkins he had served at both (1907 -1987) the University of Hamburg and the University of Vienna as guest professor of American Those of us who remember Harold Jantz Studies. Eleanore and he were particularly stimulating and elegantly formulated centen- fond of Vienna, and their apartment in the nial address in April 1986 received with disbe- Hörigasse often served as a home abroad for lief the sad news of his death on February 27, American colleagues on sabbatical. 1987, in Durham, North Carolina, where he The anthology of American verse was fol- had been Emeritus Professor of German lowed by a number of studies on aspects of since his retirement from the Johns Hopkins German-American literary relations which University in 1972. gained for Harold Jantz widespread recogni- Harold Jantz was a native of Ohio. From his tion as an authority. A frequently cited publi- hometown, Elyria, he went to nearby Oberlin cation in this field is his comprehensive sur- College and received his B. A. degree in 1929. vey, Amerika im deutschen Dichten und Denken, A year later he began graduate work at the in 1962. University of Wisconsin and wrote his doc- Because of his publications on German toral dissertation on problems in literary his- Renaissance and Baroque literature and his toriography under the direction of the cele- Goethe-studies he had by then already been brated Germanist, Alexander Hohlfeld. recognized as one of the foremost American Antioch College in Yellow Springs, Ohio, Germanists of his day. His first major Goethe- offered Harold Jantz his first teaching post in book, Goethe's Faust as a Renaissance Man: 1933. Not long after he had met his first Parallels and Prototypes, in 1951, presents a new classes he fell in love with one of his students, reading based on the drama's Graeco-Roman Eleanore Whitmore, and married her in 1935. and Renaissance backgrounds. Outstanding Meanwhile, he had been appointed Assistant among his later Goethe-studies are his origi- Professor of German at Clark University and nal translations and explication of Goethe's wrote while there his first major book. In the enigmatic Soothsayings ofBakis and his mono- New England historical societies in which he graph on The Form of Faust which reflects a worked during his years at Clark he discov- lifetime of thought about structures and pat- ered numerous unknown poems by early New terns that operate in the drama and help to England poets. His anthology and critical sur- inform it. vey of the work of these poets, The First Century of New England Verse, in 1944, revolutionized For bibliophiles, the name of Harold Jantz the field of American literary studies by offer- is associated with one of the finest Baroque ing copious evidence that poetry of high qual- collections in the nation. For many years the ity had been written in America long before collection, to which he gave his students free the date given in standard histories of Ameri- access, was housed in his study in the house can literature. on Highfield Road which so many of us Shortly before the appearance of The First remember. It is now part of the collections of Century of New England Verse, Harold Jantz had Duke University Library. joined the faculty of Princeton University. At Among the many honors that came to him Princeton he was promoted to the rank of over the years Harold Jantz was especially Associate Professor of German. In 1947, proud of his election to membership in the Northwestern University called him to Evans- American Antiquarian Society and in the ton as Professor of German, and he taught Massachusetts Historical Society in recogni- there until appointed Professor of German tion of his American and American-German and Chairman of the Department of German studies. He also treasured, of course, the

[ 64] Goethe-medal in Gold awarded him by the He also assumed the management of the Cor- Goethe Institute in 1969. respondent, although the paper itself was Those of us who had the privilege of know- printed in Omaha from 1967 to 1971, at which ing and of working with Harold Jantz as col- time the Correspondent was sold to the New leagues, fellow editors, students, and as York Staatszeitung, which continued to print it members of the Executive Council while he until December 28,1975, when the two papers was President of the Society for the History of were merged into one. In 1968, Bernard the Germans in Maryland remember him not retired from the news business. only as a nationally and internationally Bernard G. Peter was a member of the renowned scholar, but also as a good friend National Council of Juvenile and Family who was always willing to listen, and with Judges, and a member for 55 years of the whom it was always a delight to converse Baltimore City Bar Association. He also because he knew so much about so many belonged to the Maryland State Bar Associa- things. He enjoyed nothing more than shar- tion, the District of Columbia Bar Association ing information and ideas, and happily he and the American Bar Association. On June was able to do so almost to the last, for only a 21, 1971, he was appointed a Master in few weeks before his death he delivered what Chancery, Juvenile Court for Baltimore City. no one at the time realized was to be his last He retired under the Judiciary Mandatory public lecture. His work lives on, as he always Retirement Laws on August 28,1979, his 70th hoped it would, in the publications of his birthday. students. The qualities that endeared him to Randall Donaldson us live on in our warm memories of our asso- ciation with him. FREDERICK J. SINGLEY,JR. William H. McClain (1913-1988)

BERNARD G. PETER Frederick J. Singley, Jr. died on April 24, (1909 -1989) 1988, at the age of 75. Judge Singley served as a member of the Court of Appeals of Maryland Bernard G. Peter was a native of Omaha, from October 25, 1967, through October 31, Nebraska. He graduated from Creighton Pre- 1977, the last several years as Senior Judge. He paratory School and, in 1932, from the was author of 333 reported opinions of the Creighton University Law School. He moved Court of Appeals as well as five opinions while to Baltimore upon graduation from law assigned to the Court of Special Appeals. school to manage the publication of the Bal- A1930 graduate of Baltimore City College, timore Correspondent and an associated print- Frederick Singley, Jr. matriculated at The ing business. Johns Hopkins University where he majored In 1939, Bernard was honored by being in history. Due to his completion of City's appointed Assistant State's Attorney for Bal- renowned Advanced Academic Course, Hop- timore City. He continued in that capacity kins conferred its degree upon him three until 1947, when he resigned to take a more years later. Young Mr. Singley continued on to active role in the family publishing business the University of Maryland School of Law, and engage in the private practice of law. where he was admitted to the Order of the During the late 1940's, he was a partner in an Coif, a distinction which neatly comple- early FM radio station, WMCP-FM, which mented the Phi Beta Kappa key he had began broadcasting on March 17,1948. earned at Hopkins. Upon graduation from Upon the resignation of his brother Theo- law school, he passed the bar examination dore in November 1967, Bernard proceeded and was admitted to practice by the Court of with the liquidation of the printing corpora- Appeals of Maryland, all in 1936. tion which had been founded by his father. That same year he began work as an asso-

[ 65 ] date lawyer with a firm which, by the close of GEORGE J. WITTSTADT, JR. 1936, was known as Hinkley, Burger & Sing- ley, later to become Hinkley & Singley. The (1906-1990) firm traced its unbroken roots back to 1817, and the "Singley" in Hinkley & Singley was Col. George J. Wittstadt, Jr., 83, of Frederick J. Singley, Sr., who admonished his Cambridge died on February 21,1990, in the son that a lawyer should always wear a hat, Harrison House of the Delm'ar Nursing never have a drink before lunch, and never Home. be seen at a racetrack. The junior Singley was Born in Baltimore on October 18, 1906, to spend his entire career as a practitioner George Wittstadt was a son of the late George with that office until his appointment to the John Wittstadt, Sr. and Hannah Bozman Witt- Court of Appeals. stadt. Raised and educated in Baltimore, Mr. He did take the time, however, to receive Wittstadt moved to Cambridge where he his commission from the United States Navy established Wittstadt and Son Inc. Auctions in in 1939, from which he retired six years later 1946. He married Thelma Estelle Warfield on with the rank of Commander. He also dis- December 1,1940. played his characteristic good sense by many- Mr. Wittstadt was a member of St. Paul's ing Margaret G. Kaestner in 1942. Ever the United Methodist Church of Cambridge, scholar, Judge Singley was a long-standing Masonic Lodge 66 AF & AM, Chesapeake member of different law clubs and a lifetime Forest 115 Tall Cedars of Lebanon, Hayward member of the American Law Institute, Chapter 29, Zabud Council 9, Cambridge whose annual meetings he looked forward to Commandery 14 Knights Templar, York Rite as sessions of a super law school. His diverse and 32nd degree Scottish Rite, AAONMS interests encompassed art, music, travel and Boumi Temple of Baltimore, the Eastern landscaping. Shore Shrine Club, the Eastern Shore Scottish In his private life, as in his professional and Rite, the Cambridge Moose Lodge 1211, A. Lee public life, Judge Singley gave freely and self- Poole Legion of the Moose, American Legion lessly without expectation of return and most Post 91 of Cambridge, a life member of the often with complete anonymity. His was Cambridge VFW Post 7460, a life member of indeed a remarkable life and he is remem- the DeMolay, a life member of the National bered by his family and friends with loving Auctioneers Association and a member of the devotion and abiding affection. Rescue Fire Company. Mr. Wittstadt is survived by a son, Thelman Glenn E. Bushel, Esq. G. Wittstadt of Cambridge, his sister, Helen Schultze, a brother, Glenn L. Wittstadt, both (excerpted with permission from Memorial of Baltimore, a granddaughter and numerous Minute, presented before the Court of nieces and nephews. Appeals of Maryland, Thursday, October 20, 1988) Randall Donaldson

[ 66] Contributors

Randall P. Donaldson (Ph.D., Johns Hopkins University) is Assistant Professor of German at Loyola College in Maryland. He has done extensive work on Robert Reitzel, the radical editor of the German-American periodical, Der arme Teufel. Leroy T. Hopkins (Ph.D., Harvard University) is Associate Professor of German at Millers- ville University, Pennsylvania. His research interests include African-American history and literature as well as German- and African- American interaction. George F.Jones (Ph.D., Columbia University) is Professor Emeritus of German at the Uni- versity of Maryland, College Park. He is the author of eight books and has devoted him- self for many years to research on German- Americans, particularly the Georgia Salzburgers. William H. McClain (Ph.D., Harvard Univer- sity) is Professor Emeritus of German at the Johns Hopkins University. His long list of publications gives evidence to his abiding interest in the German literature of the nine- teenth century. His monograph on German Realism is one of the standards in the field. Gerard W. Wittstadt is judge of the District Court of Maryland and current president of the Society for the History of the Germans in Maryland. He has a great interest in his Ger- man heritage as well the preservation of the record of German immigration to America. Klaus Wust is an independent researcher and consultant in cultural and immigration his- tory. He is well known to members of the Society as the long-time editor of the Report (see "From the Editor") and to many in the field of German-American studies as a renowned expert on German immigration to America.

[ 67 ]